


Time of our life.

by alextheace



Series: The Book of Us. [1]
Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin, Inazuma Eleven: Orion no Kokuin
Genre: Asexuality, Bisexuality, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Dating, Eventual Romance, Friendship, Growing Up, High School, Other, Poor Life Choices, Slice of Life, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2020-09-01 20:36:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20264164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alextheace/pseuds/alextheace
Summary: Growing up it's hard, everyone knows that, puberty wasn't kind with us but the aftermath? My oh my that was a disaster.Sexuality, dating, sexual education, parties, smoking, drinking, coming out all those things that once were taboo are in front of this particular group of soccer players that are growing up, experiencing all of them at once (well, most of them)On this short stories that are loosely connected in a timeline but deeply connected in feelings we'll meet the kids who no longer are 14 y/o, they've gotten taller, their voices have gone deeper and, most important they scary 17 year old is approaching, giving them more headaches than planning a game strategy against enemies, friendship is still the glue that sticks them together, but their game strategy is changing and sometimes they're more irreverent that we could imagine.This is the edge of teenage dream and teenage craze.





	1. Burning Feelings.

** Burning feelings. **

It was exhausting, that’s how he felt it was, it wasn’t because he was reaching the first quarter exams, it wasn’t because he was going back and forth every weekend from his childhood town to his new town, it wasn’t any of that, it was exhausting dealing with these new feelings. _ Feelings, _if it weren’t him he would probably be laughing like there was no tomorrow, but it was, he never had a problem with love, it simply was something he didn’t pay much attention to, he saw a lot of his classmates as early as high school getting rejected, laughed at, being accepted and many things more when it came to confess their attraction to their significant other, never in a million years he thought that on the spring of his 16th year of life he would be on the same train of every single person he made fun of in the past. That was a living irony, a bad karma, a shitty thing and some other would simply call it, growing up. 

He remembered it clearly, it was an afternoon after his swimming lessons, last period of classes, everyone was groaning in disgust since they were forced to swim in the middle of winter with their holidays approaching. Even himself was completely against taking of the layers of clothes he had put on that morning, but there he was, coming back from the changing rooms, with a towel on his shoulders and slowly walking (with no friends yet by his side) and that’s when it hit him. He had seen that person before, probably more than 100 times considering how they shared places at the back of the classroom, but that day it felt different actually. The lightning of the room was no magical, the time didn’t stop, there was no fairy-tale aura on that particular moment, yet it was everything he had seen in corny movies and more. 

Ever since that moment, when he truly felt the lack of air on his lungs, the stress and wreck stretching desire of talking to that person, ever since that precise moment every single thing that person did it was Goenji Shuuya’s first and most important light of attention, every word they say it was the highlight of his day. It made him feel uneasy, weird, and even strangely happy to see someone for a particular amount of time that would carry him home, being with him while stressing out about homework and finally singing a lullaby to him so he could fall asleep, and so the process of his feeling could be repeated...until he had to figure out what that feeling was. 

“So, you’re telling me you like this-” “It’s neither this or that, I thought that I was never going to like someone, I used to make fun out of the losers who got rejected for crying out loud!” Goenji cut Fubuki’s words that Sunday he was back at Inazuma, he couldn’t take it anymore, it had been almost two months already with that type of pain he had to endure in silence. Fubuki took a long deep breath, almost like he was thinking what type of words to use, “Why don’t you talk to this person? I mean, you guys share seats, you told me you talked to them in the past. Why are you so fuzzy about this? Having feelings for someone is normal, specially at this age, it surprises me actually how many things we kinda felled back because of our careers at the soccer team” 

Goenji took a deep breath, it wasn’t hard, Fubuki had said it, but probably what he was feeling was a bit deeper than just a crush, probably that feeling was the most overwhelming thing he could’ve possibly thought. Infatuation. 

He almost killed himself, metaphorically, when he realized that probably he wasn’t that much of asexual as he thought, probably romance wasn’t as bad in his life as he used to think. With that resolution in mind he walked towards his classroom, having to take his time to control his shaking hands, nervousness, having to control all those things he had never felt before. Slowly he opened the door of his classroom, feeling everyone staring at him, even if he didn’t want it, he was a celebrity, a young soccer player who was the ace of his team, everyone, boys and girl looked up to him, including that special person. 

With his heart on his mouth, with everything to lose he decided it, the first step to let his youth to flourish, he sat himself next to that person who was eating something before the class started, he had said that word a million times to them before, but this time it meant something different, it meant that this time he was not going to let his feelings go away, this time he was going to give them what they had been craving for the longest time. 

“Hey” 


	2. Secrets...embarrassing secrets.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fudou has a secret so big not even his best peers know about...not until they get on full FBI mode/stalker like. What is this raging 16y/o hiding from everyone?

** Secrets...embarrassing secrets. **

No one understands how Fudou was even able to have friends, not even Hiroto (who is probably one of the most rebellious teenagers on existence) could beat him up on cutting people off while they were trying to approach him. Kidou had to apologize countless of times to his classmates due to his behaviour and mean words when they were trying to start conversation with the brown-haired guy. It was truly a testament of perseverance how Fudou opened up his shell to his teammates, even if he hated to admit it he actually enjoyed his middle school years hanging out with them even if it didn’t mean not talking that much, he would be happy just by listening to them talking about soccer, food and more soccer. But everything was changing and the last few months had been a bit rough for everyone including him who he swore none of the members of Teikoku were his actual friends. The transition to high-school was not easy neither on the academic field, more homework, long study hours, cram school, having to stress on picking a university to apply in the future AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT STRESS he had to endure the constant approaches of his classmates either male or female just to talk to him about something apart from homework. 

It was dreadful for him to listen to girls talk about boys, movies and soap operas, listening to boys talking about girls and x-rated movies the newest dirty magazine and anime, it wasn’t that he didn’t talk about those type of things with Kidou and Fudou late at night after training, it wasn’t that he thought some girls were beautiful it’s not that he didn’t had curiosity but...he thought that the age of him wanting all that was too far away yet he was curious already, yet ‘the best days of his life’ were at his doorway he was on those days yet he felt uneasy like he was missing something, he was sad and couldn’t find a way to express it...unless. 

“He’s hiding something from us” Sakuma said to Kidou once Fudou was gone for the day, he had sensed a change in his behaviour from a couple of weeks but he wanted to be 100% sure before mentioning something to Kidou, “What?” he said while looking at Sakuma not taking his words seriously since Fudou was the type of kid who was a mystery and some of the things he did were questionable and appreciated that he kept it to himself. 

“I am telling you; he always looks mad at something but recently his expression is calmer and he can’t keep his eyes of his phone, he barely listened to us through the whole day...he’s hiding something from us” “You’re overreacting Sakuma, probably he is just being himself, you know how he doesn’t even talk about his life to us, and if he does he says that he will murder us, feast with our bodies and then throwing them from the Inazuma Tower” Sakuma nodded disapproving his comments, he had seen him carefully for weeks, he wasn’t behaving like he used to, it was something more than just that, he snapped at him stopping his steps waiting for Kidou to realize “Then why is he all the time on Facebook?” “Facebook? Pfff come on everyone is on facebook nowadays” “Then why is he on a profile that it isn’t his? Then why he doesn’t appear on line while he’s on his phone?” 

“I don’t know, just because?” Sakuma started walking again passing by Kidou fixing the straps of his backpack heading down the street “Well, it’s because of something and we’re going to figure it out tonight, even if we stay up all night” “Well good luck with t-...wait a second, we? Sakuma? Sakuma?” he said running towards him, the dark-skinned guy was almost half a block away, Kidou didn’t even know how Facebook worked and now he was going to magically find his friends secret facebook profile? Madness, pure madness. 

More than four hours later in front of their laptops and the two friends haven’t find anything yet, Kidou rubbed his eyes whit his fists while groaning in despair, there was absolutely nothing that was linked to Fudou, no fanpage no nothing with his name, it didn’t matter how they were trying to type nothing was coming out. “This is hopeless Sakuma; can we please go to bed? We didn’t even finish homework” he begged to him while throwing himself on his couch groaning loudly, it was past midnight but that didn’t seem to affect the other guy at all, he was looking at the screen without blinking, scrolling and scrolling in hopes to find something. 

It wasn’t until the clock hit 1:00am that the answer came clearly to Sakuma, he clicked on Fudou’s profile, not even a picture of himself as profile pic, very few friends and just some memes he shared, he clicked on his liked pages section and there it was “A place to rant...what the hell is that name” Sakuma whispered while clicking on it, it wasn’t too long until his own laughs wake Kidou up, he crawled until the shadow of his friend on the floor laughing so hard he was holding his stomach with both hands “What the hell is going on?” Kidou said towards Sakuma who was not even letting any sound out of how hard he was laughing “Read this read this” he said breathless while pointing out the screen, it took the guy a couple seconds to let himself awaken a bit...then uncontrolled laughs came out of him as well as Sakuma agreed on why he was laughing, they scrolled down a bit more and the laughs only became louder and louder until they were on the ground yelling how close they were to pee their pants. Whatever they had found it was probably the biggest secret Fudou had had in a long time. 

The next day was okay to Fudou, he wasn’t as bad as he has been feeling lately, school was over so he was packing his stuff, walking out of the building felt a bit different, in the past all the guys would come out in groups and now they were just in couples, holding hands or staring at each other lovingly it made him mad, like really mad, was it because he wanted to be like that too? Or was it because he was just curious of how that would feel like? All that was too complicated yet it didn’t abandon his mind at all. 

Making his way out of school was peaceful, how the clouds were brushing and moving at their own tempo on the sky who was slowly losing lightness and that was turning orange, how come more soft colours, purple, lilac and pink mixed with each other as if they were all their life waiting for that precise moment, it was so beautiful it made him sick, sick because deep down thinking about that made him at peace, almost like he could reach that level of peace, she clicked his tongue taking his eyes off the sky, focusing now on his two friends who were waiting for him as always at the entrance of the school yet the second they saw him both of them have a crooked smile coming from their lips, something that caught him off guard yet he didn’t dare to ask, he had better things to worry about, like what was for dinner for example. 

But after 15 minutes of them talking about videogames paused by both of them staring at him while he was on his phone, he couldn’t take it anymore “What the fuck are you guys staring a lot for?” His friends stared at each other for a couple of minutes trying to look al serious yet they couldn’t hold it any longer breaking the silence with Sakuma’s trembling voice trying not to laugh, well, not just yet “Well, it’s hard to say it out loud but...” “We found you e-boy craving for love blog” Kidou cut Sakuma off and both started resuming the laugh they were holding back ever since they had seen Fudou this morning._ What the fuck _but, but he had been REALLY cautious, tried to use words that he never used regularly, acting the same way he used to, HOW ON EARTH THEY FOUND OUT HIS EMO BLOG THAT CRAVED FOR KISSES AND HOLDING HANDS 24/7? His skin looked paler than usual he was in silence avoiding his friends stares which made them laugh even more, it was so humiliating and the only thing he could think about was the mere fact his friends actually had read what was going on in his mind, and that yet somehow have treated him normal all day long until that breaking moment. 

After five long minutes of them laughing at him and him showing the middle finger at them the three friends sat on the grass of the park that was near their school, Fudou still telling them to fuck themselves under his breath and Kidou with Sakuma coughing thanks to them laughing nonstop. Kidou took a deep breath and pulled himself together looking at Fudou dead on his eyes hitting him gently on his shoulder “Hey, calm down, we’re laughing because we didn’t see that one coming from you, you seem such a careless guy that we never thought you had those things on your mind. I never knew you actually wanted to get you hair combed and being pampered in kisses” Kidou said laughing again making Sakuma spit his water, Fudou rolled his eyes in disgust at his two friends who high fived each other after joking about that for the millionth time, “What Kidou is trying to say, it’s that you can talk to us bro, no kidding, we might talk about videogames all day but we also have feelings, we also care for you. If you told us that earlier we could’ve helped you. Promise us that if you feel overwhelmed again, you’re going to tell us...and then post it on you little blog, okay?” 

“I promise if that make you two fuckers stop talking like Dr. Phill or some shit like that” Fudou said rubbing his forehead with his hands, he wasn’t mad anymore with them, he knew they mean well, but even himself knew that that damn blog was a little bit cringe worthy, after a couple of minutes of awkward laughs and hitting each other Fudou stared at now the completely dark sky feeling for the first time after months somehow happy for his youth, happy that he was growing up, maybe everything was going to be okay from now on, all was well for the moment. 

“Hey guys, did you happen to mention...?” 

“Everyone we know? Yeah” 

“Seriously, fuck the both of you” 

“We love you, bonehead” 

"I don't"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE THIS EPISODE AND I COULDN'T HOLD IT ANY LONGER. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I think I made Fudou a bit more like his personality on Orion no Kokuin than in the first Inazuma, so that's why he isn't so...special. I have no further notes to do rather that I'll probably update next week...or when I have a writer's urge to update my series, I'm still figuring out who should be my protagonist of next chapter...I'll keep you guys updated. Hope you enjoyed it uwu.


	3. Forbidden kiss.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mizukamiya has felt something pressuring his chest for so many years now but everything changes when probably the only person he cares about comes to school with something more than bruises and scratches.

** Forbidden ** ** kiss. **

There was a lot of boredom on the life of the ex- Raimon middle school soccer team, everyone had moved on to High School and were experiencing all sorts of things, last time they had a “juicy” gossip was around two months ago when Sakuma and  Kidou between laughs had said to practically everyone they knew that  Fudou kept a emo blog on Facebook where he ranted of the lack of love and attention he had. Everyone would crack once in a while a joke to  Fudou about it, but it was starting to get old. Everyone had encountered their own fights and problems;  Mizukamiya was no stranger to that type of feelings to that sort of personal fights, he was still trying to find an answer to his sexuality, what choices of major to choose once the time had to come, what to do with all sorts of love confessions he was  receiving from boys and girls equally, it wasn’t until the silver lighting of his life came along one day looking more covered than usual, he didn’t have to ask or say anything, the moment he saw  Haizaki Ryouhei covering his neck he knew something was up.

At first the silver haired guy played it off with his friends saying it was a rash and settled everyone up with the same excuse, but  Mizukamiya knew that that was a lie,  Haizaki couldn’t lie to save his own life, this wasn’t the exception; as an old tradition he rode his bike from school to his house alongside  Haizaki whom was still playing it cool diverting the blue haired guy’s attention, eventually their paths separated as  Haizaki’s house was towards the left side of the road and  Mizukamiya’s was on the right side. They said their goodbyes and start riding their bikes away from each other, there was something on  Mizukamiya that wasn’t letting him focus on pedalling his bike, as almost as the most he was riding himself away from  Haizaki he wouldn’t find the answer to why his neck had marks all over it and why all the girls of the classroom suddenly dropped all their tries to confess their attraction to him, was there something about those marks that magically made people stay away from you? And if they were, could he be with them for the rest of his life?

That thought was  headfucking him like no other, he couldn’t take it anymore, he had already arrived on his home yet he still was carrying his backpack and his P.E uniform was still on him, he was walking in circles on his front garden over and over again,  _ that _ feeling again, he was building up  _ that _ feeling ever since he was 13 years old, an imprisonment, almost like his spirit was being held on and he had to fight to find an identity to it, just like that he could  start finding a way to let himself be free, but it was too damn hard, it was almost like it was choking him, it was time, it was time, he had to do it.

He had never on his whole 16 years of existence had pedalling as fast as he was, he felt his legs were about to rip if his body, he could’ve sworn that he had hit like one hundred people on his way to  Haizaki’s house, but he needed,  _ he had to go _ with him and straight up ask him, what could possibly had happened to him to cause such revolution in school? They were just marks, yet everyone was so surprised he couldn’t believe.

His parents were hardly home so he knew he was alone, it didn’t matter not even one tiny bit to him that he had left his door unlocked, he walked still sweating from his race until his house reaching the door of his room finding  Haizaki watching the marks on his neck reflected on the mirror of his room... Mizukamiya didn’t even let him had time to process all that was going on when he started a shooting of question after question 

“Why everyone is so shocked by those marks? Why everyone was not trying to crowd on you today? AND WHY THE FUCK DOES GUYS AND GIRLS COME  TO ME EVERY FREAKING DAY WITH CHOCOLATES TELLING ME HOW HANDSOME I AM?”

Haizaki had never been so utterly confused in his life, he dropped his hands who were touching his neck facing a very unfamiliar  Mizukamiya , he opened his mouth for a couple of seconds while he pointed at his bed inviting him to take a seat while went to his front door closing it, making his way next to  Mizukamiya sitting next to him still trying to find a way to explain to his senpai what was going on. While scratching his hair the youngest laughed it up a little bit as if he had finally found the words and he started talking. “I went to the beach yesterday, I didn’t plan it, it just  sorta happened, I stayed until late, probably around midnight or something, the reason I came back so late it’s because I met somebody, we started talking about anything, then we were just making out on the sand, it’s actually super uncomfortable because I still have sand on my hair and I washed it like two times this morning” He interpreted  Mizukamiya’s silence as way for him to continue talking, “We were on the sand and well, more than kissing we made out or something, my hands were  everywhere , their hands were everywhere, nothing else happened but I think it was pretty clear to everyone at school I made out with someone so they finally left me alone for once”

“Just that? I thought you were in a fight as usual...”  Mizukamiya was still not sure about his response, it didn’t feel like it cleared it up for him all the questions building up on his head,  Haizaki sensed it and continued talking, “You know how the kiss marks appear, right?” He didn’t know, he didn’t know nothing yet he was so not used not to know something  Haizaki did so he nodded “Of course I know, but still doesn’t make sense” “Well, I guess people thought it was Akane or some other person, it’s not important who it was, but people sensed it as I am ‘taken’ so they weren’t all over me. 

Now, about that...I hope you’re aware you’re a pretty good-looking guy, you make anyone fall head over heels for you, and if you haven’t noticed yet, a lot of our friends are still struggling whom to they like, so they make moves to the people they consider attractive”  Haizaki’s stare was on his senpai while he was stating at the wall still not knowing how to take those comments, the younger sensed it so he reached for his backpack opening the front pocket of it taking out a pack of cigarettes he had bought without his parents knowledge, with his head he let his friend know to follow him as they walked outside his home and on the back part of the little building of his  apartment complex, lighting up one he inhaled the nicotine that quickly filled the air making  Mizukamiya awaken from his thoughts looking at the youngest with a disapproving look. 

“That’s going to kill you” “ _ Something _ has to” He offered one cigarette to the blue haired guy that against his good will took one of them struggling to light it up and by the time he took his first blow he was a mess of coughs and fighting to find air.  Haizaki was laughing too hard at first yet he composed himself waiting for the oldest to breathe normally again “Okay, breathe in slowly, try to hold it just for one second on your chest then slowly let it out. You don’t have to do it perfectly, but the point is to inhale some of it properly” After a couple of tries  Mizukamiya got the hang of it and now both of them were smoking while staring at the trees that were part of  Haizaki’s backyard, in silence but with a sort of feeling of camaraderie. He couldn’t hold it any longer, he had to say what he has been feeling, to somebody, to his friend, to Haizaki.

“I think I like all sorts of people; it doesn’t matter if they’re boys or girls, I just like them...I like people, I like boys' broad backs and deep voices, how some of them are taller than me. I like girls' long hairs, I like how they smell, how their body is so different than mine, I like all that yet I can’t even tell the guys or girls that I find attractive how I feel. That’s what frustrates me the most.” He dumped the already finished cigarette asking for another one which the youngest didn’t deny as he was lighting it up he started talking again; “Ever since we’re in high school this feeling has been intensifying, first with  Goenji asking that person out in a date,  Kidou’s friend love blog, I guess both of them are right, I've been thinking about all those heavy topics I didn’t care about much a lot in the past, but now is the only thing I can think about...I just want to find the perfect person to do it, to experience all of those things with” 

The youngest instead of reacting on the savage way he used to all the time stayed quiet for a couple of seconds following the oldest by lighting up his second cigarette in silence, inhaling a good amount of nicotine into his system and letting it out by his nose, he stared at the oldest laughing in silence, he wasn’t making fun of him, it was a sympathetic laugh almost as he knew exactly what he had been struggling with. “I am proud of you, saying all those things to me, but you don’t have to hold yourself back anymore now that you’ve showed that you crave about those things as well as I am. Now that you have told me all this you can probably find the guts to ask someone out from  Goenji ...or probably making out with someone on the beach. Or probably you’ll do something else...whatever you do, it’s fine man, we’re growing up, it is hard to some of us to do a certain type of things...well...except me  cause I am awesome, but hey, let’s just enjoy what we’re doing, nothing else than just that, okay?” 

He was dumfounded, was that the same  Ryouhei who used to get into a fight with random people? The same  Ryouhei who would fight  Asuto to fists making the poor guy bleed and excusing himself by saying they were best friends? Was that the same kid who would smoke behind his parents back and probably did a whole of things without them knowing no even one single part of it? But he was right, he had been holding up all those feelings and so many more but it felt now that  Haizaki had said those worlds he could now start letting himself go little by little, he throwed his second cigarette  nodding at his words of encouragement.

The rest of their conversation was more casual than anything else, some dirty innuendoes, the rest of his making out story, who Mizukamiya had find attractive so far, it was almost like a healing conversation to the oldest who found a bit of peace of mind. He left before sunset and on his way back he re-enacts the conversation with Haizaki, how things developed and how come he was the only one so far knowing his secret about his sexual orientation. Yet, once he arrived home, he didn’t enter right away, he stopped dead on his track as he still had to figure one last thing...what was a kiss mark? He pulled up his forearm and pressed his lips as hard as he could against it, a good five seconds passed and he finally pulled his arm away seeing the exact same mark on his pale skin as on  Haizaki’s neck “Kiss mark? Wouldn’t that hurt him?” He asked to himself watching how the mark was more and more red as the seconds passed by, probably knowing how forbidden those type of actions between teenagers and how that was the reason behind everyone had assumed he was no longer single in life. It was still a bit confusing to him but recalling  Haizaki’s words everything was going to be okay from now on.

He had entered a new stage in life called growing up, without realizing, thank God he wasn’t by himself; he had his friends who were with him on that one...and he knew that  Haizaki with hickeys on his neck was just the opening act for what probably he could title as “The Best Years of His Life”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is safe to say that Mizumakiya is a whole ass bisexual icon but I had to make it a bit more obvious on this chapter. Hope you guys liked it and if you have any feedback or suggestions on who to focus my next chapter its widely appreciated. 
> 
> With nothing left to say I hope you enjoy your night and I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things might get a bit deeper at some point of my story but I hope you still find it appealing once I reach that point. See you guys next time uwu.


	4. The young and the reckless.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tatsuya is bored of his routine, Hiroto is out of control.  
Tears, drinks and confessions are shared one clear night after a father and son have a heated up argument, what could possible be the outcome of this?

** The young and the reckless. **

More than usual Sun Garden was your common next door orphanage, kids who ended up in that home now they were teenagers with dreams and common goals to be someone in life, it was now more like a big family house than a house filled with kids with tragic backstories; all of them had their space, their dreams, their routines, they were indeed a family without blood strings between them. It was all peace and harmony if it wasn’t for the ‘real’ home they were all been there at least once. Their ‘Father’ lived in a different mansion not that far away from their home, it was a gigantic place with all sorts of things no one could imagine with, it had everything they craved and even more, it was actually a bit ridiculous and extravagant the over-the-top elegance living there could offer, yet the only male heir of all that was more fond into crash in their step brother and sister’s little home.

Hiroto  Kiyama was already a handful as a kid but now that he was a full blown teenager his attitude and recklessness was worse than before, even if he was on the most prestigious school in town he would still don’t give a damn, he felt the abandon from his own father, he was trying in any possible way to call his attention on him yet all his acts were only drifting him apart, so, he knew that pranking on fellow classmates wasn’t enough, he had to do things  grownups did, probably that way he could feel somebody,  _ anybody _ , cared about him, that’s all he wanted but he was too afraid to admit out loud.

On the other side we had Tatsuya  Kiyama , who was probably what any father would want as a kid, well mannered, dedicated to his studies, resourceful, a natural leader, he was a dreamy guy who would probably excel on anything he put his eyes on, everyone who knew him was aware of that, how golden, how amazing how perfect he seemed that they completely forgot he was the same age as Hiroto his devilish counterpart, it was demanding and sometimes he felt he couldn’t commit any mistake, and that mere fact was taking away all his youth, all his years were he had to and was allowed to act as a teenager; of course those thoughts were locked up on his mind, he was _ bored _ of his routine, he was sick of being perfect 

The smoke that came out of Tatsuya’s oatmeal was almost heavenly, comfort food, he liked to call it, it was 11:30 on a Tuesday night, his homework was done for the day and he needed something on his stomach to make him fall asleep easily since he needed his 8 hours of sleep as a good kid. While his right hand was busy feeding him, his left hand was scrolling through his newsfeed on  facebook while a loud crash made him almost swallow the whole spoon completely, while choking he coughed like it was half of his lungs while inspecting where the sound came from and who was the responsible of it. Everyone was either on their rooms or asleep, it was a school night so it was logic that all of his family was done for the day, he was completely alone on the first floor of his new home, he could hear his steps going around the kitchen passing by the living room, he was only by himself and even if he wasn’t a  scaredy cat there was something that made him feel uneasy, he tried to use logic in order to let go the fact he was feeling a bit afraid, he started mumbling things under his breath only to reassure he was okay and it was probably a stray cat looking for food on the trashcans outside his home, he felt his throat hurting, and he could feel his body starting to sweat, he was not that type of guy yet he could feel something wasn’t right.

A second crash alerted him as he now used the spoon that once was about to choke him to death as a weapon, it came from outside, “crap  crap crap , I swear to Buddha that if it is another goddamn cat I am going to go crazy” he whispered under his breath grabbing the doorknob slowing moving his hand, Hiroto took a deep breath and came outside so fast that he didn’t see himself stumbling with something bigger than a cat, it was his same height and made him trip and fall crashing in the process with the trashcan next to his mailbox, it was a matter of seconds yet he was already on the floor with a little bruise on his right side and a little scratch on his arm. Dragging himself he cursed into the air opening his eyes looking for the responsible of his bad luck, feeling more confused he found the black sheep, the kid who claim himself as his own god, the dishonour of his family, his friend and brother of ages, Hiroto. 

“What in the fuck are you doing here?” the redhaired guy asked the guy whose face was still on the ground, slowly but surely the silver haired counterpart started to get up sitting on the floor massaging his head that was presumably bruised like Tatsuya’s right side of his body. “That’s not a nice thing to ask to you brother, don’t you think?” “Oh, cut it out and tell my what they hell are you doing, it’s almost midnight” “Can you stop talking like a goddamn grownup? Geez, I thought we were pals and I thought I could invite you to my expedition, but I guess you’re still uptight, little Tatsuya” 

He stared at Hiroto in disbelief, he wanted to punch him as they would usually do but there was something on at Hiroto’s face that didn’t seem right, his eyes were glowing and his cheeks were just a tiny bit blush, he knew what that type of face was but it didn’t seem right, no way. “Have you been drinking?” “Ding  ding ding ! We have a winner ladies and gentlemen, it’s the one and only Tatsuya  Kiyama ” Hiroto replied to him while laughing trying to stand up while he was shaking off the dirt from his clothes since he had felt on the garden a couple of minutes earlier. “You’re not in age of drinking, who gave you the alcohol?” “Oh boo- hoo you think that someone gave me this thinking I wasn’t aware? Come on Tatsuya you’re smarter than this, father has like a hundred bottles of all types of alcohol around the house, he’s been drinking more than usual now that I’ve been suspended from school, so...I saw my chance” Hiroto paused his words while pointing at Tatsuya in a dramatic way, almost as if he was about to tell a story and then he resumed his comment “He was like ‘you little brat, you’re out of control, your teachers keep telling me you don’t do homework’ That’s when I told him not to pretend to care about me because he never had, then we continued our little father to son conversation by saying how much I hated him, he said I was a disgrace and then...and then” Hiroto stopped talking while recovering his breath, he had got so into de details of his fight with his father that he was looking more affected than indifferent as he would usually be.

“Anyways, I found a bit of rum on his studio table and drank it all, it tastes like perfume, don’t ask me how I know how it tastes but I know. I brought something to my brothers to share actually” And out of his jacket pocket he took a 2liters plastic bottle of what it seemed to be sake, or vodka, whatever the hell that bottle had it seemed expensive and it had high chances to mess anyone up who dared to drink it. 

“Everyone is asleep” Tatsuya replied while sitting on the floor staring at Hiroto who was shaking his head, “No, no, they’re awake, come  ooooooon , tell them to come downstairs and  driiiiiiink ” Hiroto said dragging the words making his voice sound childish, Tatsuya wanted to slap the living crap out of him, that wasn’t his normal behaviour he was used to see Hiroto acting like a rebel, not caring about anyone, he despised talking in a cute manner yet he was there, acting clingy and more outgoing than usual. “Hiroto, everyone in here is asleep, you should do the same, we have school tomorrow” “But guess who doesn’t because he was suspended” Hiroto cut him off while pointing his thumb towards himself, almost as if it was an achievement. Tatsuya rolled his eyes and with a gesture he called Hiroto to sit next to him, the silver haired guy didn’t  take too long to place himself next to him opening the bottle of that transparent liquid and drinking a bit of it making a disgusted face at the taste of it. 

“You are not the type of kid that drinks, give me this crap” Tatsuya said while taking the bottle away from him, watching the other guy struggle with the after taste of what he had just drank. “I am no type of kid, shut up, I am who I am and you are who you are.” Hiroto replied while crossing his arms placing them on his knees resting his head on top of the little pillow he had just made with his arms. “Then if that is not your type of act, why you did it?” Hiroto clicked his tongue while staring at the red haired “Won’t say until you drink half of  that” “Have you gone crazy?” “Are you a  _ coward _ ?” 

Tatsuya pulled a crooked smile on his lips “coward” that word wasn’t him at all yet after all the internal struggle he had had been feeling this past week it was probably what he liked to tell himself after seeing at what point his life had reached. It was things like “Tatsuya is such a plain guy” or “He is such a perfect kid” that had break him,  _ was that the only way people saw him? _ He was already struggling finding his identity since he didn’t have any biological role model on his life, he had no history or what to expect from himself since he didn’t had any contact with his family yet everyone else seemed to know, without sharing it with him, without telling him their reasons, it pissed him off more than usual, people instead of  _ helping _ him they were  actually _ sinking _ him in despair, he was lost and had no clue what to do in life. He stared into the clear content that was shining with the light of the moon mixed with the light pole of the street, what if he drinks it? What was the worst outcome of it? Just for once he wanted to see what it felt like playing with fire and see if he either got burned or not.

In silence he took two long sips of it, feeling how it burned him so hard he had to close his eyes, he could feel all the muscles of his face retracting in order to make the taste of it go away for a tiny bit, Hiroto was beyond shocked, his eyes were the size of his mouth while no sound would come out of his mouth, only after a couple of second he started laughing with absolutely no control, he knew it, he knew that the  perfect Tatsuya was not so perfect anymore, it seemed all over his face, has was also struggling with something, he just knew it. 

Both of them shared quiet sips of that drink, grunting and making disgusted faces at how strong it was, it was a strong taste but none of them seemed to be able to stop drinking, almost like while the liquid was on their throats it stopped them to let out all those feeling they had been repressing for the longest time now.

An hour and a half passed and now both teenagers where lying on the ground staring at the sky laughing over absolutely nothing, they were just laughing until a slow brush of air filled the garden Mr.  Kiyama took care of so dearly, slowly Hiroto started mumbling sentences without much sense, after a couple minutes he pointed at a random star in the sky “Dude, is it just me or the starts are dancing?” Tatsuya who was still laughing stare at the sky, Hiroto was right, everything was moving around them, the sky, the leaves, the trees, houses, everything was moving at their own pace it was dizzy, fuzzy, and a little bit uncomfortable, at first that feeling built up on his stomach and slowly reached his throat making him choke a bit, it felt like something acid was on his mouth yet he wasn’t eating anything...and then it hit both, they ran into the nearest tree and started to throw up almost everything on their system, oatmeal has never tasted so disgusting to Tatsuya it made him throw up a bit longer than Hiroto who was coughing feeling more himself now that the past 40 minutes.

Quietly both of them entered Sun Garden staying on the kitchen drinking water from the tap instead of the bottled one they kept on the fridge. Tatsuya’s oatmeal was still there, and the silence that reign the house was magistral, without saying anything the happiness of forgetting who they were was passing and now a new feeling was taking over them, the realization of whom they tried to forget, it was true what older people would say, drinking just relives problems for a couple of minutes, the aftermath it’s always  disgraceful .

Hiroto stared into the wall letting a big sigh out of his chest while staring at the window and how the night sky was clearer than ever, his face was completely defeated, like a puppy who had just got wet over a storm. Tatsuya was no better, he felt as if the relief drinking had given him was gone and all his thoughts were against him ten times s tronger than before.

“I am a failure” Hiroto broke silence mumbling those words at first but as he was talking his pronunciation was more and more exact, almost as if what he was saying was the absolute truth. “I always knew what I wanted to do in life, but I think what I want to do it’s not realistic...doing things my way and trying to be less of a disgrace to Father is hard, it’s almost like everything I do is not good enough, no matter what I try or how many times I do it...I keep messing up. And it’s not I want to be a goody  goody , but even I know that there’s a limit between a reckless and a freaking gangster. I try my best and it’s never good enough, it’s never good  _ enough _ .” Hiroto took a deep breath while he felt himself choking up by his words. It was a shame, it was depressing, it was unbelievable that he was actually aware of his behaviour. “We are growing up, but I don’t know why I seem to be the only one that is left behind. As if, as if I don’t know what is going on. I do matter too, I wish people could stop talking about me pretending I am not there, I am here and I can listen every single damn thing they say about me. Just because I am a lost cause it doesn’t mean I do not have feelings!” as he was  talking he clenched his fists so hard it was leaving a red mark oh the palms of his hands and that’s when he broke; his tears were flowing into his cheeks falling into the wooden table, it was not a couple of tears, it was a full set of him crying all his frustrations out, it was him letting himself go with the feelings he had been holding back for the longest time now. It was something never seen before and that took Tatsuya by surprise, Hiroto was asking for help, all this time he was asking for help and not a single person wanted to help him, it was such a sad portrait yet he didn’t know what to do exactly so he dragged his chair next to him passing an arm by Hiroto’s shoulders dragging him closer to him making the youngest one cry even harder, harder because someone was listening, someone  _ cared _ enough about him. 

The tears kept flowing on Hiroto’s face while Tatsuya kept silence, he didn’t know what to say, he was not a good example himself and he was not in a good position to offer some kind of advice, he had some problems too, and probably sharing them with him would make the weight on his shoulders ten times lighter than they felt at 2:00am at his house kitchen.

“I am not good at advices, I used to be, but not anymore. Ever since we started high school, I've been getting more advices than giving them, it’s weird cause a lot of people assume I am mature, jokes on them I am just confused. Confused and how I am supposed to work, how is that I have to act a certain way, man I just want to play videogames and get together with my friends I just wish that growing up it’s not automatically quitting on things that are just fine. I wish people stop expecting things from me, I am so bored of  stay in line... _ I just want to be myself. _ ”

The silence reigned the room while Hiroto was still crying, now just a little bit than before, Tatsuya was still with his arm around his shoulders giving little touches to his skin, both of them had headaches and felt physically bad, it was a sad picture, yet on that sad moment that’s when it clicked on Tatsuya’s head, it was on those moments, where he knew he wasn’t alone, maybe it wasn’t figured it out, but he knew he wasn’t alone, he had next to him one of the closest people on his life, he had come to him while drunk, from everyone he knew, he had come to him,  ** _ hope _ ** , that’s what Hiroto was showing without realizing and that mere thought made him smile, just a bit, but it was reassuring, almost like by the last second before drowning on their despair he had found a life saver, a spark.

“But, we’re not alone, I have you and you have me, we’re both losers finding our ways in life, and, if you let me, I'll help you if you do the same. We are not alone anyways, we have family, we have our teammates, we have people who care about us. They understand how hard it has been high school to us, heck, I heard your friend  Haizaki smokes like a chimney, and I swear I heard that  Fubuki is a drunk ass.” Tatsuya said while laughing but his laugh stopped when he felt something warm on the hand that was caressing Hiroto’s shoulder, it was his own hand, holding it strongly almost as if as himself had found a life saver, they interlocked fingers in silence while Tatsuya composed himself from that shock, his hand was warm, soft, it felt nice.

“As long as you don’t gay  me, I will help you, Tatsuya”

“I think you’re already gay for me man”

Both of them laughed still holding hands, Hiroto has swollen eyes and his nose was red, Tatsuya looked like hell yet both of them felt light, light as the air, it had actually felt nice for both of them realizing they weren’t that alone, and that was they were looking forward since forever, not feeling alone. There was a strange aura between them all the time, but now they were more into each other, in whatever way they felt they were, once again they were each other’s strength and now more than ever things were falling into place, slowly but surely, they had each other, they had friends and they had themselves.

“Weren’t you the one that had hickeys on his neck after going to see Fifty Shades of Grey?”

“I went with a  group of friends”

“Didn’t you say it was going to be just you and Haizaki?”

“I...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain is fried but my cheesiness is still alive.  
Hope you guys liked it, and I hope you guys find you little life saver in life, growing up is hard and scary but as long as you have hope you can find strength to overcome all this fears, it could be in a friend, a lover or yourself, it doesn't matter the source, the energy it has can change your life.
> 
> Have a good day my loves, I'll see you next week uwu.


	5. Paintings that no one would see, yet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiura Kirina is a mess of teenager yet he looks like the most pulled together of all his group of friends.  
He loves painting and loves his grandmother, he likes spicy ramen and Mizukamiya and now that he knows Mizukamiya also like boys a little light of hope radiates his life.
> 
> Who would be the person that would bring sense into his life? What is he going to do in order to achieve his dream?  
Part 1 of 2.

** Paintings that no one would see, yet. **

There’s nothing better than a bit of food after a long day at school, eating something from the convenience store (probably ramen or something chewy to release stress) drinking iced tea and then walking home while the sun was still up and shining on the busy yet not overpopulated  Inazuma Town. It sounded too good to be true actually, yet a tiny delicate person made sure it would happen every afternoon with  or without his beloved friends. 

Hiura Kirina was the type of boy who even if he was miles away from his hometown he had realized that if he wanted to give his grandma something to be proud of he had to stay in the city, made a career or something he would love, not what everyone expected him to do, but what he wanted to do in order to make him happy. Painting was his passion besides soccer and when he wasn’t playing, he would be on his room painting on endless canvases, drawings or just mere abstract but art, something to mix up colours, something to express the landscapes he would dream about, landscapes he would miss from his beloved island; he had the talent, obviously, but he didn’t had the guts to sign up on his school art club and let somebody to expose his works of art on the annual exposition of the school, he was  _ scared _ of being inadequate, that he wouldn’t be good enough, he felt the pressure of not being able to live up to a certain  _ expectation _ that most of his painting would pile up in his bedroom, hiding from everyone including his closest friends.

And it was at those convenience stores he would find peace, an ease to the internal conflict he would find from time to time building up on his mind, taking away his sleep and making him anxious. That afternoon was no different than the others, slowly he said goodbye to his friends saying he had to run a couple errands for his grandmother slowly he approached his favourite convenience store and picking up the spiciest ramen available, approaching the little machines to heat them up and looking with his eyes the closest table so he could enjoy his early dinner putting an end to the rush of thoughts that were flooding his mind at that exact second. While looking for a table his eyes meet up with a familiar face, it was none of his island friends but a classmate, probably an in-between friend and acquaintance, that boy who had recently made heads turn for his brave statement about who he was interested in.  Mizukamiya Seiryuu was literally staring at him, straight to his eyes and he didn’t know if he was there to talk to him or probably just minding his own business, whichever what it was, he could feel an uneasiness, or probably something else, it wasn’t anxiety, probably an expectation since  Mizukamiya made that statement  Kirina could feel a little window of hope opening up that his not-so-secret crush was also interested in boys.

He caught himself thinking those things that he didn’t realize his ramen was ready already, quickly and a bit clumsy he grabbed carefully the tray preparing it the way he wanted, he could feel the purple eyes of  Mizukamiya piercing the back of his head making him feel even more nervous, he had to play it cool so without much care he turned around and sat on a table next to the window which was two tables away were the other boy was,  Mizukamiya was not even trying to be subtle, he was staring at  Kirina not letting anything else interpose between him and his eyes. 

Kirina started eating and in order to stop catching  Mizukamiya glancing at him he put a video on  Youtube ,  plugged in his headphones and focused on it, he forced his eyes to be glued to the screen while he was eating, and even if it was super spicy there was nothing more mortifying than he knew the other guy was not looking down, there was no thought on his mind that was piercing him more than knowing  Mizukamiya was looking at him, looking at him eating and everything, he wanted to choke to death at that very moment but it was not happening actually, he was swallowing his food with rather more easiness than ever before.

After a couple minutes he felt a shadow in front of him, now he had to look up finding that now  Mizukamiya was in front of him, he was looking rather nervous, just like himself, than his handsome and confident image he would see every day at school. Slowly he took off one of his earphones expecting the other one to talk yet it seemed the older was not able to produce any more words coming out of his mouth, he was just there sweating and looking awkward.  Kirina felt the urge to stop the silence so he cleared his throat in order to talk only to be cut off by the other boy voice.

“School...I... yeah...school...see you...there” 

He was confused now, completely,  Mizukamiya got flustered and turned around leaving the store without saying a word leaving the other boy dumbfounded, what the hell was that supposed to mean? He cleaned up his food and left the store too now to the dorms, as he walked the street he replayed the events on his head over and over again;  Mizukamiya was looking more nervous than usual yet he was staring at him so confidently seconds before there was something on his behaviour that was not clicking, was he trying to talk? Was he just staring at him? It was so confusing and it was adding more stress that he already had. He quickly went to his room and locked the door staring at the paintings on his wall and the ones all over his room and left a powerful sigh out of his chest, what a day, what a week,  _ what a life _ this one was. 

The blue haired guy spent most of his night doing homework and not until he was done of it he unlocked the door of his room and went downstairs to meet up with his friends who were watching tv, some of them still making homework and others just hanging around, there was nothing particularly special about that moment yet he felt the urge to identify what just happened earlier that day, slowly he sat on the couch next to Norika who was reading a magazine, at first no one noticed him but once  Asuto sat on the other side of the couch he couldn’t not notice  Kirina and greeted him “Oh, look who decided to hang around his friends”

Everyone else greeted him and he tried to act natural but there was something on his head and face that made Norika focus on him instead of the latest gossip of the celebrities, she closed the magazine and left it resting on her lap while exanimating  Kirina’s face. 

“Is something wrong  Kirina ? You don’t look as yourself”

“Oh yeah that...it’s just that something happened today that was a bit...not normal” The boy whispered while everyone in the room turned their heads towards the couch were now Norika looked in expectation for  Hiura to continue his story.  Again, he cleared his throat and took a deep breath trying to find the right words to express what happened with the most popular boy of his school. 

“Well, I was doing my grandma a favour and I stopped by the convenience store cause I needed to eat something, while I was waiting for my food to be done Mi- this person was staring at me, like  suuuuuuper hard and I tried to focus on eating but while I was in the half of it this person stood in front of me, they looked nervous but they didn’t say anything until out of nowhere said something like school and left without explaining anything. It was weird cause this person was staring at me the whole time yet when I was about to say something, they didn’t say anything...just babbled about school and that was it.

Kirina didn’t realize that many people were paying attention to him until he found all his friends surrounding him while listening to him, some of them laughing and some other not looking not even a tiny bit surprised.  Asuto was still trying to process the information and after a couple of seconds he let out a yell of realization looking at Norika who just nodded at his yell knowing exactly what he was talking about. 

“This person likes  Hiura !”  Asuto exclaimed while everyone else in the room  nodded agreeing on that simple sentence yet it didn’t give any answers to  Kirina who knew it wasn’t possible that The  Mizukamiya liked him. It didn’t made sense.

“Don’t give me crap, this person doesn’t like me...besides I haven’t even told you if it is a boy or girl. How you guys so sure that I care?”

“Well, for starters you are actually telling us what happened” Norika interrupted him making  Hiura raising his head realizing that the girl was right, this was nothing new to him...probably it was because this time it was somebody that he liked, somebody he cared about. “And second of all, we know it’s a boy, you like boys and even if you like girls you wouldn’t make such a fuzz considering how many girls like you” the girl crossed her arms while resting her head on the back of the couch while yet again the other teenagers just silently agreed, they knew their friend,  Hiura have had problems even at  Inakumi with girls confessing their love to him and him having to tell them that he felt flattered yet he was not able to correspond their love, people used to think it was because his only focus was his grandmother but in reality his only love affection could only be triggered by boys and nothing else. 

Hiura licked his lips while throwing himself at the back of the couch like Norika letting a frustrated scream come out of his mouth making everyone scared for a second yet that was enough to let them know that  Hiura was indeed talking about a boy. It was always about a boy, just  _ one _ boy, about  Mizukamiya and yet he was not able to let people know, at least not yet.

“Whatever it is dude, I just feel that this boy was trying to talk to you but couldn’t overcome his fear. Maybe you should step up if this action meant a lot to you. It’s not fair that you have to  _ hide  _ your real self to the rest of people, in the end they don’t truly care about you, they just  _ care to judge the image _ of who they think you are, but you know better than anyone who you are and what you’re made of. Fuck people honestly, talk to the poor boy, he probably would feel too embarrassed to see you from now on” Everyone turned their hands to  Yuuichirou who was resting on the other couch of the living room with his eyes closed, the ambient of the room was silent yet not awkward, it was just an unanimous  agreement on what the long haired boy just said, they had always seen  Kirina holding himself back, it was not fair for him to lose his life doing what everyone else wanted him to be instead of being who he truly was.

It was not that he was just saying it for saying it,  Yuuchirou was one of his closest friends so him telling him that it was okay to show himself of how he truly was seemed like a blessing in the middle of a storm. Quietly he moved on the conversation to a topic a bit lighter until it was time to go to bed. Rolling up on his bed he couldn’t find a way to fall asleep just yet, he needed to make up his mind. As he  quietly sat on his bed looking with the moonlight to his paintings  Yuuichirou’s words came to his mind making him feeling more comfortable, at ease, that was it, starting the next morning he was not hiding himself anymore, not about his paintings, about who he was, the season of  Hiura Kirina living in a shadow was over, he was going to make himself happy.

The next day it all went to shit, he was back at it again, not telling anyone about his true self, it was hard to say it, truthfully, and it was harder to put it in action. He spent most of his day gazing outside the window of the classroom while he imagined different circumstances where he was able to speak up, to tell the word he loved painting and that he wanted to do that as a career. 

As he walked back from lunch he felt himself more uneasy until a pair of eyes were gazing at him from across the hall,  Mizukamiya was there once again to prove that he was in fact not dreaming, because it was harder for him to realize that his only crush liked him back rather than the fact that he was a talented painter. He stopped in the middle of the hall, people passing by in slow motion while now instead of pretending he didn’t know  Mizukamiya was staring at him and without saying anything he stared back. The minute his eyes met  Hiura could feel warm, happy and all those fuzzy thoughts on his mind were taking their respective place, there was no more awkward  Hiura , just a kid, staring and the guy he liked.  Mizukamiya smiled at him and so did him, both of them slowly walking towards each other, people were passing by but it didn’t matter anymore, it wasn’t that they were going to date or something like that, but with those stares it was clear they had feelings for each other, there was no need for the awkward exchange of words,  Hiura knew it and he hoped that Mizukamiya knew it too.

Now in front one to the other  Mizukamiya smiled at him getting blushed a tiny bit, he couldn’t  believe he was doing it (per  Haizaki’s nagging now that both shared his secret and he had encouraged him to tell the people he liked about his feelings) finally telling the person he liked the most that he felt something, he cleared his throat while both of them laughed uncomfortably staring at other direction yet looking at each other again,  Mizukamiya was about to speak when  Hiura broke the silence perfectly.

“You want to go with me?”

“Sure, where are you going?”

“Art club, I decided I want to paint from this moment till I die”

“Sounds like a plan”

“I just cooked it”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part one of two is out!   
I know the writing is a bit...lazy but today the only thing that could cheer me up was writing. Nevertheless I hope you guys enjoy it since it had a lot of hits from last chapter ggggg.
> 
> I am thinking that after this pairing I would focus on Nosaka and Anna making for them also a two chapter series dedicated to them /insert thinking emoji right here.
> 
> ANYWAAAAAYS ~ I hope you guys enjoy it, and as always i'll see you next week with the final chapter of this crackship of mine uwu.


	6. No more hiding.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirina has his first assigned painting but he can't find a way to start it ever since his "relationship" with Mizukamiya went on public.  
Can he finally get the answers he wants and finally release himself from his own mental block?  
Part 2 of 2 and closing arc for our beloved couple.

** No more hiding. **

Dating it’s hard by itself, but have you ever been in that moment when you’re not dating someone yet you know it’s a matter of time until you do? That’s exactly how Hiura was feeling, what was he supposed to do? Yes, he had held Mizuikamiya’s hand while going to the arts club to start his journey as a young painter, both had held hands while waiting for the train, they had shared sweet stares at each other while passing by each other's classroom, yet, he couldn’t seem to do anything else, he felt it wasn’t quite enough yet and the prime of the problem was that  Mizukamiya had never mentioned what he wanted with him. Was he a crush of him? He wanted a relationship? Was he playing with him? All those questions were torturing him while he tried his best to concentrate on the white canvas in front of him, it was supposed to have his first ever official painting as a member of the arts club but he didn’t had any inspiration specially with the topic that was given to all his members; expressing a feeling with the human body was hard yes, but at that mere moment he didn’t even know what to do, what to draw when all his feelings were a mixture, a nothing, he always expected the worst and this situation was no different.

It had been at least two weeks ever since they had held hands at the middle of the hallway at school, is people supposed to start dating in no time? Or was there a specific time you had to wait?  Hiura had never dated in his life, and the only person he knew that could help him was his grandmother but he couldn’t tell her, he couldn’t tell her that he liked boys and he was in a relationship with one, what would she think about him? He knew grownups were different that the new generations, but his grandmother was his only source of wisdom, she had told him everything he knew about life but this time it was something he knew she couldn’t help him. There he was, feeling blue while staring at the white canvas, he had two days till his due date, he had absolutely nothing, no idea what to do with  Mizukamiya and on top of that he had to endure some people’s comments about him;  Mizukamiya was a really popular guy and knowing that his first love interest was a boy had brought him more jealous people around than supportive, it´s not that he cared that much, he never let gossips get the best of him but it was the others guy silence that had him feeling uneasy, why wasn’t being protected by Mizukamiya? He needed a well-known scape, so without saying anything he left in direction to his neighbourhood convenience store, it was time for spicy ramen, the spiciest of them all.

Last time had waited for his ramen to finish up he was nervous and smiling because his crush was on the same place staring at him, now it was only him, the store’s clerk and a rainy weather outside. He left a huge sigh out of his moth once the machine made its distinctive sound once his food was done. Carefully he placed the hot plate on his table and waited in silence to cool down a little bit, he was scrolling down his phone, trying to look occupied even thought his mind was fixated on only one thing, what were  Mizukamiya’s intentions with him? He was aware that he was friends with  Haizaki who, as well as him had hinted in numerous occasions that he liked boys and girls equally, they were friends since middle school and they spend almost all day together, they ride their bikes back home, it made more sense that something would happen between those two rather than  Mizukamiya and him, it sounded stupid on his head, there was no way both of them could be an item. He was sinking himself more and more, he was feeling dreadful, people were making fun of him and even if his friends defended him like no other, he still felt those comments because he wasn’t fully aware of his identity,  _ he hadn’t accepted himself yet _ and that’s why it made him uncomfortable.

Slowly he started eating his food, the package said it was the spiciest of them all, yet he felt numb that he ate as if they were regular noodles impressive and actually quite scary yet  Hiura had developed a resistance to spiciness so high over his childhood that nothing actually could make him sweat. The store’s clerk was cleaning tables next to him and the person lifted her eyes from her hat reading the type of noodles that were making her gasp in surprise taking  Kirina out of his trance making the girl feel a bit  embarrassed , she fixed one of her hairs and apologized continuing cleaning the tables, the girl looked young, probably his age so he assumed she was just working part time, he just smiled and continued eating, the girl moved to the other tables and it was now just remaining the table in front of him, she was actually more focused on leave the surface clean that once she caught  Hiura staring at her she stopped what she was doing and left a sympathetic smile come out of her lips.

“Rough day”

Hiura blinked in disbelief, was his face that dreadful that a stranger could tell he was going through a bad time, he recovered by pulling a crooked smile of his teeth shaking his head “I think it’s more like a test time. There’s been happening a lot of things lately, guess I haven’t processed it all yet”

The purple haired girl nodded her head and slowly sat in the chair of the table she had been cleaning, it was actually respectful from her considering that one, she was a girl that wasn’t flirting with him and two, respected his boundaries. “There’s a lot of changes going one lately, it is only normal you’re feeling that way. What happened with  the guy that talked to you a couple of day ago?”

He froze with the chopsticks on his mouth, that was way too much over the line, how did she know about  Mizukamiya ? Why was that important? And why it was so important to him? The girl quickly caught  Hiura’s reaction and moved her hands trying to dismiss her own comments 

“Don’t get me wrong, but this convenience store is barely visited and you kind of familiarize with the regular customers, besides behind that counter with nothing to do there’s nothing much to do than looking at the customers” She paused scratching her hair looking a bit  embarrassed “I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable, it’s just that, he seemed really cute trying to talk to you, and since both of you had the same uniform I assumed you saw him the next day or something”

“Well, we talked but I don’t know my position with him” he was about to slap himself, why was he sharing his life with a girl he just met? Why he felt such  urge to tell anyone how he was feeling? Yes, he had his friends but he needed someone else to listen to him, he needed to ask someone the question that was taunting him, he needed to ask somebody if  Mizukamiya truly liked him. “We sort of said that we liked each other but not with words, we held hands and he  goes with me everywhere at school but I don’t know if he likes me too or he is just playing with me. I have a painting that it’s due date in two days and on top of all this I can't talk to my grandma because I need to tell her I like boys but she is going to feel  disappointed of me...I don’t know what to do AND THIS RAMEN IS THE WEAKEST SPICY CRAP I’VE EVER TASTED IN MY WHOLE LIFE”

The girl was speechless processing all the information poured in her, she cleared her throat and closed her mouth while keeping her smile, she took a deep breath and slowly stood up from her chair now sitting next to him on the table, she let a little laugh come out of her lips leaving  Hiura confused, he didn’t had the time to ask because a second after her giggles stopped she started talking. “If you have a due date then you should focus on it, but seems to me you have to clear things up with that guys, otherwise you’ll never be able to concentrate. Now, I do not know much about love but if you want to know something about someone the best thing you have to do is ask, you’re no mind reader so you have to start people asking stuff when you don’t understand them, you do not know something then ask. 

About your grandmother, well, I am assuming that she loves you unconditionally, I guess that you liking boys it’s not the end of the world, parents and grandparents loves us kids no matter how we are, as long as we are nice kids, so...letting her know that wouldn’t change a thing I am sure of it. It’s just a matter of you finding a good timing.” She just shrug her shoulders while smiling at him,  Hiura felt a bit better as she heard the girl’s advice over and over again on his mind so he  nodded in silent agreement with the girl and she stood up going to the counter she had to be working otherwise she could get fired, or that’s what she told him. 

After finishing up his food he stood up and cleaned his table, while on his way out he stopped in front of the girl who was  checking out a customer “You didn’t tell me your name”

“Fuyuka, that’s my name”

“Nice to meet you, I’m  Hiura Kirina”

“Likewise”

That next morning (after procrastinating his art homework by playing videogames with  Asuto all night)  Kirina met up with  Mizukamiya who was waiting for me at the gates of their school, he looked so handsome and dreamy, he smelled nice and he was completely good looking, he almost forgot what the girl from the convenience store had told him. He shook his head a little bit and stood next to him who greeted him with a smile, he almost melted on it but quickly came back to his senses, he held  Mizukamiya’s hand and pointed to the soccer field in which  Mizukamiya didn’t oppose letting himself being directed by Kirina. 

“The soccer field looks so beautiful at the mornings, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I guess so”

Mizukamiya hugged  Kirina by his back laughing at that moment, he sounded happy yet the only thing he could think of was asking him his true intentions, it was the only thing he was expecting so without wasting more time he finally let those words out of his chest.

“Do you truly like me  Mizukamiya ?”  Hiura closed his eyes while  clenching his fists, one side of him wished not even asking that question, especially when  Mizukamiya didn’t say anything for a whole minute, he could feel his arms holding him even stronger against him, the oldest let his chin rest on  Hiura’s shoulder, staring at silence into the soccer field.

“Wasn’t it obvious when I talked to you in a mess on that convenience store?”  Mizukamiya poked  Hiura’s side laughing a little bit, he rocked both bodies from side to side in a quite cuddle while staring still at the football field. “I promised myself to never hide who I was, and telling you that I liked you was just the beginning, I mean it when I say I like you, just because I like both boys and girls doesn’t mean I don’t know when I truly like someone I would do anything for that person. I am not like everyone thinks I am...it was hard to me a couple of months ago, thanks to  Haizaki I slowly show my feelings to people, to you, I am a freaking mess I know, it is hard for me to show my feeling but I am not lying, I do like you, and I wish we could be something else, but I also want to take my sweet time, obviously telling people to screw themselves, especially the ones who make fun of  you. Let me protect you, please.”

Kirina felt an overwhelming warmth on his whole body as  Mizukamiya said those words, he held his arms and smiled with him laughing and shyly nodding to his words, it was fine that he couldn’t say anything yet but he hoped that  Mizukamiya knew that he liked him too and probably in a bigger amount he could imagine. They both joked around for a while and once the bell rang in order for them to go and start classes for the first time in forever he entered the building holding  Mizukamiya’s hand, proudly and with the mindset of not letting anyone make fun of him, yesterday was the las day someone could ever make fun of his sexuality, he was going to embrace it and accept it, from that moment and forever.

“Yes grandma, I’ve been eating regularly...no, no problems yet. Ah yes, I entered the art club at the beginning of the month and I presented my first painting...I represented hope...just two people holding hands...ah yeah...one of them it’s me...yeah, actually I have something to tell you grandma...” After rushing into his home after his lovely moment with  Mizukamiya (and with his help too)  Hiura ended up showing a quick yet super detailed painting of both of them holding hands with the feeling of “hope” and, according to his words, he felt that were people who guided others to a better life, to get confidence and to never give up, it was highly praised by his teacher, by his classmates and friends, her grandma had demanded pictures of it too yet before sending her those it was time to finally confess himself to her, he took a deep breath with  Mizukamiya holding his hand, they were talking to her in his room on speaker and it was a now or never moment, he knew it and had to do it, he had to stop hiding himself, from everyone and from himself.

“The other person on the painting, I am in a relationship with this person and he is a boy...he’s older than me, but it’s fine, just by a couple months, he was the captain of one of the soccer teams we matched up against on middle school, he takes care of me and brings me home before curfew. He is really cute actually and makes me happy, I am sorry if that  disappoints you grandma...but I like boys...I know you used to tell everyone you would  wanna live to see me getting married...but I understand if you don’t want to talk to me anymore...I am sorry”

“You are my biggest blessing I've ever had in my  life; you are my light and you are the reason I am awake every day  Kirina . Why would I be sorry my love? The people you chose to be with its ultimately your choice, all I can pray for is that the person you choose loves you more than me, besides that I don’t care who it is, boy, girl whoever you choose I pray every morning to love you more than I do. You are my most important treasure baby, I hope you remember it, I know you since you were a baby and I've been waiting for this for the longest time. I am so happy to hear this my pretty boy, please show me pictures of all your paintings from now on...and who knows maybe when you come back for summer you can bring that lovely boy with you; I want to meet him”

Hiura was moved that some tears were rolling down his cheeks,  Mizukamiya reached his hand and gave soft strokes with his fingers while both of them nodded in agreement while  chuckling , it was a bit awkward but cute at the same time. He felt as if the world weight had left him, he was finally free, finally free from every single thing that was making him feel bad, now he wasn’t a sad guy who hide more than painting on his room, he was himself, at last, and he couldn’t be happier, that was it, that was his new life and he loved it.

“I love you grandma,  thank you for accepting me”

“Thank you for existing my love, I will always love you, no matter what, you´re my miracle and my whole happiness, live your life baby, it’s yours, never hold back anymore, you promise?”

“I promise, no more hiding.”

“That’s my boy”

“I  gotta go grandma, have a good night, I love you”

“I love you more”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's a wrap for my Mizukamiya/Hiura pairing stories, I hope you guys enjoyed it, I was feeling 938672637 times better than when I wrote the first part of it and I am pretty much sure it can be seen.  
As you can see the time lines are slowly matching one another with my story, as I said at the first time, this series are a bit loosely connected in time, approximately one or two months of connections between each other. Can you guys guess who is next? 
> 
> Enjoy your day my beloved ones and as always I'll see you next week uwu. Much love to you all.


	7. Beauty and the beat.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikado Anna has had a lot of problems in her life, dealing with Yuuma Nosaka's rejection is the worst of them all. She pretends to be cool and put together, he drives her crazy since he knows her very well. What would happen once he is directly asked about that day two years ago.
> 
> No longer confused teenagers now they have to finally clear out what was meant to be said on that brief encounter on the airport two years ago.  
Part 1 of 2.

** Beauty and the beat. **

Have you ever pulled yourself out there, expose your feelings, let yourself feel vulnerable and get turned down? Well, Mikado Anna knew exactly how that felt, it was a weird experience she shared during middle school, she (like every single female on  Inazuma Town) had a crush on the dreamy Nosaka  Yuuma , she actually was a bit beyond most people and had a bit of advantage since he had found in her a bit of trust to share bits of his past, and thinking that it could be love she confessed her  feelings for the red-haired guy who turned her down not even giving her time to express what she had been feeling for a bit of time. She didn’t know if she was rejected or not, she took it as a rejection so as every single human being she moved on, focused on her studies and actually felt some resentment towards love, not because she found it  despicable but because she felt_ jealous_, jealous that people actually had the opportunities to express their feelings, something Nosaka never let her express and it was something that would always follow her.

Following her middle school popularity, she was the president of the students council on high school, it was not as stressful as it was on middle school between juggling with managing a soccer club but it made her feel uneasy since one of the representatives of the second year was no other than Nosaka Yuuma, it made her swear into her bathroom mirror, it made her scream on her room against a pillow, he was still as charming as she could remember it irk her, it made her ache realizing that she was not even close to be relevant on his life yet he was powerful enough to make her mad, just by politely smiling to her with a well-planned activity, that freaking jerk always got what he wanted and that just made her even more mad, it wasn’t stressful but it was hurting her feelings, the 14 year old Anna feelings were hurting each day she would see him.

“Can I kill myself?” Anna barged into her friend’s classroom,  Ootani just let a sigh from her mouth as the pink haired girl let her arms rest on the desk following by her head letting a scream out of her mouth, the brown haired girl combed her hair with tenderness while smiling nervously, she didn’t know if asking was going to make any difference, Anna pulled an image of a cool distant girl but in reality she was fiery and  feisty always complaining and with a passion for arguments, after a couple of minutes and an Anna cursing under her breath  Ootani assumed it was safe to finally start the interrogatory.

“What did he do now?”

“Nothing! We were discussing ideas for every class to do on their reunions for winter break and he was suggesting everyone can go to the same karaoke and do a whole reunion between classes, and then he freaking smiles at me with that stupid smile of his and tells me ‘I wouldn’t want to miss your beautiful singing voice’ Like, who the hell does he think he is? UGH I HATE HIM!” Anna said while kicking to the air while still on the desk, she sounded so frustrated it made  Ootani smile  awkwardly , she knew if she said something without thinking she would get all her anger.

“Do you really want to do the karaoke?  Because if you do you can propose that it would be better if the classes do it on different days”

“It doesn’t make that much difference, we are on the same class, it doesn’t matter what I do he’s always there”

“I know, but at least if it’s between your class you can chit chat with somebody else, or say that you were busy, since it’s not our whole generation you are not forced to go”

“Yeah...I guess I can try that” Anna paused while lifting her head up just a little bit letting a groan out pulling herself up “I’ll go to my classroom for my stuff, I’ll be back”

While walking to her  classroom she could feel people staring at her, she was the same as a couple of years ago, her aura was dominating and her walk was full of confidence, everyone knew who she was, everyone knew her and she knew it, Anna had to pretend to be emotionless and so when everyone found out she had been turned down by Nosaka they tried to make her feel bad yet she didn’t show any emotion, she just dismissed their comments and making herself sound less than interested on the outcome, over the years it had gotten easy yet she needed a time to feel but she never felt it was the right time and it was starting to consume her.

Once she was ready to slide the door of her homeroom she heard some male voices laughing and talking, she assumed it was just the designated classmates to clean for the day so she didn’t paid much attention, not until she heard a voice she knew well talking with them “Is this bastard going to follow me?” Anna said under her voice while standing them hearing what they were saying, the topic that they were discussing was her least favorite, they were asking Nosaka for the hundredth time how she had confessed to him, she guessed now they were confident enough to ask him. Anna eavesdropped since it was actually her first time listening to it too, she had just heard  rumors about Nosaka behavior regarding her feelings from two years ago.

“Hey come on dude tell us”

“Yeah, did she give you candies? Did she put on makeup?”

“She cried?”

“What are you talking about?” The red-haired guy replied while laughing at their comments while actually cleaning the classroom

“Don’t act dumb bro, Mikado Anna, she confessed to you on middle school and you rejected her, everyone knew you two had something and once she confessed things ended up really rough between you two”

“Since you know the whole deal, I do not understand why is it  necessary my point of view of those events. To be honest with you I do not know even how those rumors appeared”

“Don’t act dumb Nosaka! We know what happened just tell us what you said” Anna smirked while listening to them, she knew exactly what he said and once she lifted her  eyes, she saw that Nosaka had the same expression as her, they were asking and assuming but they couldn’t be more wrong.

“You do not have to protect that suck up of that girl anyways, she believes she is above everyone, like, who cares about her when the guy she likes already rejected her” one of the boys commented while poking at Nosaka jokingly who was still smirking, he looked a bit annoyed but his smirk was still on his lips, Anna on the other hand had her hand gripped to the door ready to open it and give them a bit of her mind, she was just waiting for something to light her up.

“Yeah, he is right, you don’t have to pamper that stupid girl feelings, just tell us how you made her cry of how stupid she looked bro!” That was it for Anna, the last bit of patience she had had was gone.

She barged in opening the door staring at the guys dead on their eyes, smirking as the same way as he was, slowly but proudly walking to her desk grabbing her backpack and staring at the four guys (including Nosaka) with a daring smile on her lips. “I will not tolerate your remarks against me, specially from three guys who continually trash talk Nosaka, I might not stand him but at least I am no hypocrite who sweet talk him on his face but then beg for him to leave this school so you can get a chance with girls. Do you guys a favour and stop looking like kids, my feelings towards him are certainly gone, it was an impasse and it is right behind me, so you can drop it before I kick your asses for not minding your own business” 

The other guys were visibly annoyed and even were getting ready to start a verbal fight with her but Nosaka stepped up in front of her with his well-known ‘I know everything’ smile, putting his hands on his pockets he let a little laugh come out of his lips. 

“I never rejected her, I just needed time. I’ve been giving her time to heal. At that age I couldn’t reciprocate her...now I can but...I guess I’m a little late”

Anna’s expression almost loose her cool yet she faked a smile of confidence and nodded towards him, by that moment the other three guys were mere shadows on her mind, that bastard, now she hated him more, she truly hated him, pretending not to feel anything, concealing himself and never caring to explain to her that he was giving her time. His exact words that day were ‘I am not ready to hear that’ How the hell was she supposed to know that he meant some day in the future? She truly hated him at that second, she wanted to cry, she needed to go. “You are late, as I am from my activities, have a good afternoon Nosaka, you three, you can go to hell”

She had never walked so fast in her life, she stormed out of the main building of the school and screaming into the soccer field with all her might, she was furious at him, at her, at the world, her feelings weren’t behind her but now with what she had said she knew that Nosaka was going to desist his feelings, he knew when to stop and by her words she knew that he was not going to try anything, he was actually going to stop liking her leaving Anna as the only one with feelings towards him. She kicked and stepped until a bit of anger was gone, it took her a while but after a couple of minutes she composed herself and walked towards another direction still inside the school grounds.

Ever since she was a kid dancing made her feel better and made her stress go away and at that moment it was all she needed, quickly she changed to an oversized shirt and some pants, it looked simply but it was comfortable enough to dance. Randomly she started playing popular songs and making up choreographies or famous choreographies for them, she was sweating, with the music really loud and staring at her reflexion on the mirrors on the gym of the school, she could've continued if it wasn’t for a shadow that entered the room and slowly got close to her, since most of her hair was in her face it wasn’t until the guy was in front of her that made her stop dancing...and also curse in the depths of her head.

Out of breath she turned down the volume but letting the song continue playing as a background, Anna needed to calm down but Nosaka following her that special day wasn’t making her any easy, it was actually torturing her.

“Did their comments hurt you ?”

“Not really, I do not let people tear me down, they were just a bunch of stupid guys anyways”

“Since when do you dance?” Nosaka asked while still not taking any distance from her, smiling, that goddamn smile again.

“Third year middle school, ever since we didn’t manage any team with  Ootani I was looking for another hobby” Anna paused while wiping her sweat away with the palm of her hand now putting her hair away from her face staring at Nosaka who was still staring at her.

“Was it really a hobby?”

“It was for me after the finals, everyone kept changing their minds so I guess it was good for a while, we all needed changing things up a little bit” Anna  admitted while sitting on the floor while staring at him still, Nosaka followed her and sat in front of her while smirking a little bit, Anna didn’t know if it was her imagination but every time Nosaka talked to her he had the same smirk, it drove her mad and at that instant it made her even more mad, what he was so confident about?

“I guess you are right. But hey, from all the things you’ve done, dancing is probably the most shocking so far, you should really be good at it. It is a shame I can’t dance, not even to save my life” Nosaka admitted while laughing, he was now staring at the room, his backpack on one of his shoulders and his uniform slightly untidy, it drove her mad, she wanted to punch him, bite him, kick him and more, it was driving her mad and he knew she was about to snap at him.

“Why are you here?” 

Nosaka took a deep breath while his stare went down one of the mirrors and landed on her face again, he cleared his throat fixating his stare at her he moved a bit closer to her and let those words he had been thinking for a while.

“Do you want to go out with me?”

“What...?”

“Do you want to go out with me?”

“Nosaka I...”

“Just one date, come on, it is not going to be hard or boring”

“ But... ”

“What?”

“What I said earlier...”

“Oh that?” The boy let a laugh come out his lips while shaking his head. “I Uh, assumed you were saying that to not loose phase, it is fine. I know your feelings for me haven’t died yet”

“You really think you know it all eh?” Anna admitted her defeat while letting a little laugh out of her mouth while Nosaka was now smiling at her. “What about them?”

“Who?”

“Everyone at this school, boys, girls, our friends, what about them?”

“Well, I stopped caring about what other people think since I was 10 years old, trust me when I tell you it’s better living off that way. I know it is hard for you to say yes to one date, but I promise I won’t do anything weird; I just want to prove you that I was waiting and so were you. Anna, you’ve been consistently hiding yourself, and you let yourself out for a brief time while managing  Inakumi Raimon, now you went back again of how you were, and I do not blame you, I rejected you, but understand that I needed time to recover. Imagine if I died on my operation, it would’ve been harder. I like to believe that you hating me was better than liking me and loosing me.”

Anna herself was in silence, her stare was now fixated on the ground, she was confused yet his explanation was so him that she knew he couldn’t lie, it was the truth, if he had said he liked her while recovering it would've made it hard for the both of them, he was right but it was so embarrassing to her, she had behaved like a brat just because he had tell her it wasn’t the right time yet. Nosaka resumed his words while staring at her still, that kid had a talent on staring at people, almost like he knew what was going on inside their souls.

“I decided that you are not going to care about what people says anymore, hence on why I want to go on a date with you. If you don’t feel what you felt two years  ago, I’ll stop pursuing you, I give you my word”

She bit her lip rising her eyes to him, now she was the one smirking, Nosaka knew that smirk, they both knew what the other was about to say but never dare to say it out loud, Anna loved being dared and that was a dare in front of her, all or nothing, knowing if her once fluttering feelings as a  teenager were still there or not, it was an interesting dare and, unless countable times, she was going to take it.

That feeling was fresh, almost like all her wounds from confessing his feelings to him were slowly fading away, almost like it was the right timing, _she_ felt it, _he_ felt it, both of them were now mature enough and both of them were ready, well, at least to go on a date.

“Fine, I’ll go as long as you don’t bring Nishikage”

“What is wrong with him?”

“He is cool, but I’ve had enough of him shadowing our conversations two years ago”

“Fine, as long as you promise me something”

“What?”

“You’ll kiss me at the end of it”

“Go to hell Nosaka”

“Saturday night, we’re going to the movies” 

“Fine”

“Fine”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part one of two is out! (since AnnaxNosaka is the only straight couple with rights)
> 
> I used a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny of my personal experience at love to recreate this chapter so I hope you guys can like it, I'll probably update the second part tomorrow...or next week, it depends on how inspired I am after my 9 hour sleep schedule.
> 
> Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys I hope you guys enjoyed it, comment if you have any ideas or suggestions, I am open to all of that, enjoy your night, day, afternoon while reading it, see you guys idk, tomorrow? next week????  
uwu


	8. Still the same.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date day is here, Anna and Nosaka have an awkward date that goes down in history.  
Rumors, fights and the climax of bottled feelings come to their end, what would be the outcome of it?
> 
> Part 2 of 2.

** Still the same. **

“I should go with something casual, not pretty, no too flirty, that way he will know I am totally not interested in him” Anna said to  Ootani who was laying on her bed rubbing her forehead. It was Saturday, the date day, and Anna haven’t even found a moment of silence, she had been talking  nonstop , remarking every two seconds that she had no feelings for  Yuuma (big fat lie) The dark haired girl have had seen her with every possible outfit on her wardrobe yet Anna thought all of them looked too pulled off, like if she had actually invested time on putting them on. 

“Anna it doesn’t matter, just...for the love of God just put on something and that would do it” She finally snapped at her while sitting on her bed again, Anna let a groan and took her shirt off letting a groan of frustration leave her lips; after a couple more minutes of internal battle she had finally chosen the perfect outfit, a loose button up t-shirt that she tucked under her jeans, black vans, a white beret and a little bag for her stuff (totally not well planned and completely showing her aloof personality, right?) She sprayed a bit of perfume on her and left home with her best friend who walked her to the bus stop, Anna was totally shaking and nervous and  Ootani could see it so she gently patted her shoulder in a  comforting way. 

“Do not worry, you look pretty and you can put everything behind after today, okay?”

“Okay” Anna answered in a whisper clutching her  cell phone on her chest looking at the approaching bus, she quickly said goodbye to her friend and got on it, as  Ootani was waving goodbye a little chuckle came out of her lips, she was repressing so hard a little laugh ever since they had come out of her house.

The date was at 12:30 and it was 11:30,  _ an hour  _ before planned.

“If both of them do not realize how much are they into each other, they are dumber than what they preach...holy cow”

The movie theatre was well packed for a weekend, the smell of popcorn and butter was filling the lobby, kids yelling, parents yelling, everyone was being too loud yet for the first time Anna didn’t seem bothered about it, she was quietly sitting on one of the couches staring into the  lockscreen of her phone, it was 11:45 and she was already there, she felt a bit pathetic for being there so early yet she couldn’t help it. Ever since that day she had being little by little more nervous, she barely did her homework that week and not to talk about any other extracurricular work, everything she did was wondering and asking herself the same question, was she really still in love with him? 

_ Impossible _ , she said, feelings were things that died down in a matter of days if they weren’t reciprocated or nurtured, she knew it, yet she didn’t know why every now and then she would ask herself the same question, repeating the same answer and the cycle would continue. Her mind was really invested in that same question, but she couldn’t avoid it, two years ago she had felt something and she was aware of it and she had shown herself at her true vulnerability, she had apparently been turned down but after two years it was all a misunderstanding. Of course she would be re thinking the same things over and over again, would this time her feelings would be taken right? Or she was about to get her feelings crushed all over again? 

It was tiring, it was demanding and she wanted to be over once in for all and no one could blame her. 

While  immersed on that ocean of thoughts Nosaka appeared in front of her with a huge container of popcorn on one hand, two drinks on a little bag in the other and the movie tickets on his mouth, Anna rapidly stood up and took the sodas carefully while looking him at disbelief; the moment her hands touched the drinks she could feel them cool, a bit wet due to the ice cubes starting to condense, had he being on the movies for a while now?

“Nosaka, have you been here long?”

Yuuma took the tickets on his now free hand and shook his head smiling a bit nervous. “No, are the drinks not cold enough? Damn they probably messed them up, you want me to change them?”

“No  no no ! It is fine, I do not like my beverages to be too cold anyways” Anna reassured him while smiling on her inside  _ ‘So he did come even earlier than me to the movies’ _ she thought to herself while smiling nervously as him.

“You  want to get inside? That way we don’t miss the trailers”

“Sure sure, let’s go”

It was 11:50, both of them were 40 minutes earlier but no, they weren’t into each other at all...

The first 20 minutes were complete silence, there was no trailers to show, they were the only ones on the function, Anna was staring into the screen looking peaceful while Nosaka was staring into the same point into the huge screen and sometimes staring at her on the corner of his eye. It was like that until a couple minutes, there was nothing too distinctive, just trailers and the beginning of the movie. The room was not full and it was no surprise considering it was not a popular movie, it was actually foreign that barely had coverage on the news yet Anna and Nosaka wanted to see it so they chose that one as the movie they’ll be sharing on their date that well, wasn’t a date. 

Roughly an hour had happened and both of them haven’t said anything to each other, Nosaka checked on Anna who seemed really focused on the screen yet he noticed her hands shaking, was she cold?

“Hey” The red-haired guy whispered towards her while for the first time Anna broke eye contact with the screen and stared at him, shyly she nodded while laughing quietly

“I get easily cold, I totally forgot to bring a jacket...probably because it is Fall I didn’t think it would be cold this early into the season” 

“Give me your hands” Nosaka said while smiling, slowly the orange haired girl moved her hands towards him and quickly he took both of her hands onto his own and let them rest on his abdomen, he stared directly onto both pair of hands and then at her smiling, Anna was about to say something yet  Nosaka moved his head towards the screen telling her to continue on watching the movie

His hands were warm, and big, it was an obvious contrast between hers, Anna could be staring at the screen but her mind was on the same place, wondering over and over again.  _ ‘If I don’t feel anything for him, he holding my hands shouldn’t do anything into me. I mean yeah, they’re warm and soft, they are too different from mine too, probably he uses lotion they feel strangely soft’  _ Her eyes travelled once again into her hands, she thanked God that now he was focused on the screen, she haven’t realized the way he was dressed, he was using the same outfit he used that day on the airport (black shirt and grey pants), she could sense cologne on him, was he wearing cologne that day two years ago? Actually, he hasn’t used cologne ever...it was the first time, it conflicted her mind since she was used to his personal scent, now she had to designate another smell to the boy, another smell she had to curse into the wind once it reached her nostrils.  _ ‘I wonder what would happen if I held his hand’ _

She mentally slapped herself while she focused again on the screen,  _ stupid _ , he would feel uncomfortable, he was just warming her, nothing else, he wasn’t in love with her, he never had.

As the movie ended he let her hands go slowly, they cleaned up their food and exit the function, now into the lobby again, both of them were now awkward with each other, not staring directly into each other’s eyes, guess it was time to end the date since there was nothing else to do, no one had said a thing, no one had moved from the lobby  kinda like if they had a mental conversation both of them moved towards the exit of the movie  theatre without saying a word.

They were again at the bus stop, no words, nothing, nada.

“That was fun” Anna broke silence while smiling towards the guy who the second he saw her  smiling he did the same.

“It was actually, who could believe this movie is not going to be seen by a lot of people  disappoints me”

“I know! Like, the plot was so interesting and the soundtrack sounds like art, and the acting, it was  marvellous specially that part when the girl finds her old family and they pretend she is not there, man I almost cried on that scene” Anna said while exaggerating her words and expressions, her eyes were shinning so brightly and her smile was ten times bigger than earlier.

Nosaka seeing that slowly smiled back at her yet he stood there in silence, as he was thinking something, he was about to say something when Anna stood up pointing to the  street , her bus was there. 

“This was fun, no kissing, no nothing” Anna said joking while pulling out her bus pass from her bag, Nosaka nodded in silence one more time while staring at the girl.

_ ‘She is art’ _ he thought to himself while she took one step to the approaching bus and turning around one more time to say goodbye; Anna opened her mouth to speak yet she was cut short by the boy expression, he looked at her in a way she had seen before, the guy tucked his hands on his pockets and let a little laugh come out of his lips before saying anything, then he let those words go as a soothing wave of air stroked the bus stop, yes, just like the movies.

“I still like you”

Sunday was hell on earth for Anna.

All that day and night she thought about those words, it was the words she wanted to hear so badly yet, what was her feelings towards it? She had sworn into her own death that she certainly didn’t have feelings for  Yuuma , but why those words made her smile  through the whole day?

Monday was hell and heaven all at the same time.

Sadly, one of the new things about high school life was that almost everything you did people would find it out eventually, if it was on a weekend you could count that by Monday everyone would know it. Anna and Nosaka’s date were no exception to the rule, because, if you go out on such  crowded place you can always expect someone that knows you on it. And, on Anna’s case, people who didn’t like her.

She felt whispers on the halls while walked by them, she felt groups of girls staring at her in disbelief, Anna was aware everyone knew but what she couldn’t explain was their behaviour, it was no romantic date, they were just two people who went to the movies, yet it was something so damn big that now she was on everyone’s topic of conversation. She made it all the way towards the end of classes and the only thing left she had was cleaning her classroom, she didn’t say much since she would usually do it by herself, quietly she was cleaning the windows when the door of her homeroom opened, it wasn’t Nosaka, turns out the guys she had disrespected before were back, and now with a vengeance.

“Look who is here guys, perfect princes”

“We heard what happened on Saturday huh. I guess Nosaka wanted to do some charity”

“Leave me alone, and leave this classroom before I go to a teacher and you guys...”Anna couldn’t finish her sentence since one of them threw a book near her scaring the girl who took some steps back finding her arms being grabbed by two of the three guys, they were gripping really hard on her, bruising her arms as she was trying to release herself with all the strength yet it was useless, their grip was not coming off.

“Now you listen to me” The remaining guy said getting as close as he could to her face, Anna moved her face yet he grabbed her by her chin forcing her to look at him into his eyes. “He used you, he doesn’t like you, he would never like a girl like you. Pathetic loser who thinks someone can like her, he never liked you and he never will. Accept it, probably that way you can leave that goddamn high horse of yours, you are not a big deal, you are a no one, you are just a pathetic little girl that no one likes.”

“You are just a loser, no one would like you, Nosaka doesn’t like you, you are just trash” one of the other guys added, Anna was squirming herself to get free yet it wasn’t working, his arms hurt, she was sweating and their words kept  echoing into her mind, she fought for a while yet both guys threw her into the floor, panting and breathing heavily, her eyes were filled with tears and she couldn’t find her way up, she felt like nothing, miserable because all she disliked about her was the same reasons this guys disliked her, she clenched her fists hard, as hard as she could while starting to cry quietly listening the others guys laughs realizing that the mighty Mikado Anna was indeed crying on the floor.

“You guys are right” She broke silence while their laughs just became louder, she hit the floor with her fist while letting a groan come out of her lips “I am all that, and I hate myself for it, every day feeling like utter trash, cause I can’t do anything else besides complaining and putting order, not being able to be brave, not being able to do anything...I despise myself, I am scum...Scum for thinking Nosaka or anyone could love me, thinking that I have friends...I am no one” For every word she was crying harder, sobbing and breathing heavily while the three boys were laughing still  _ ‘Nosaka could never like me...not like this’  _ she thought while crying, her hair was covering her face and she only lift her head once the door opened again, with might, with expectation,  ** _ just like she had done couple of day ago _ ** while eavesdropping Nosaka’s conversation with the same guys. 

He looked upset, exceptionally mad, as he walked towards Anna one of the boys cut off his walk by getting on his way shaking his head.

“Come on Nosaka, isn’t that the girl you already rejected before?” He said on a mocking way but quickly his smile  faded once Nosaka let a punch go directly to his face knocking him down, the other two boys stood up ready to fight yet there was something on his eyes that scared them, there was a hatred on his eyes, a hate that no one had seen on him before, slowly the other boys grabbed their friend from the floor and left, knowingly that if they fought the red-haired they would obviously loose.

Anna was still crying while she saw Nosaka sitting in front of  her, on that peculiar way of sitting he had smiling, even if his knuckles were red as so were hers. She snorted a little bit by both of them image, yet she couldn’t stop tears coming out of her eyes, the same hand that had injured the other boy was now caressing her cheek and trying to dry the tears from her eyes. They spent almost ten minutes in silence, staring at each other and as the sunset was setting on the city.

“Did their  comments hurt you?”

“You think?” Anna joked while laughing feeling a bit of snort coming out of her nose quickly wiping it with the sleeve of her uniform

“Probably I’ll have to fight them tomorrow at lunch time, better tell  Nishikage and his friend  Tobitaka to back me up” Nosaka joked while moving his hand that was starting to hurt since the adrenaline rush had left his body.

“Probably” 

“Anna”

“Hm?”

“I still like you”

Anna felt that again, a rush, a tingling sensation on her stomach, he was truly invested on her she was on him, did it really matter lying to him now that he had heard that she was in fact still hang up onto him?

No, even she knew the answer and after years she finally threw caution to the wind.

“I still like you, too”

“Then why did you say such things about yourself?”

“Because they were right”

Nosaka let a little chuckle out of his lips while shaking his head, slowly he reached  Anna’s hand and  caressed it, even if it was hurting and one of his knuckles was bleeding. 

“They’re far from being right, you are amazing, cute,  intelligent and overall an amazing girl. As I said before, I couldn’t reciprocate my feelings but it doesn’t mean I didn’t think those things. You are far more worth than you can imagine, you deserve happiness, love, being appreciated, and I was not able on that time to give it to you.

Because you needed to know I meant it, I've grown a but from the irresponsible sarcastic kid who I was before, now I am an irresponsible sarcastic teenager” Nosaka paused while she laughed at his joke “Smiling looks so good on you, everything does, you just have to deal with the fact that from today and now on I’ll be on you, I'll want to come to school with you, eating lunch with you, going home with you, spent my  Christmas vacations with you...I didn’t know what I wanted before but now it’s clear, I want you and no one else, Anna”

Tears were flowing her eyes again but this time they were different, happiness tears, tears that meant that after so many months and crisis her feelings were the same as his, after a whole damn time she knew he felt the same and she finally named that feeling she had for him, Anna was in fact in love with him and he was in love with her as well.

Slowly she pulled herself towards him and hugged him, it was a tight hug from both sides, a relief hug, a hug that took two years to materialize, Anna could smell his scent once again, she could feel his chest, his warmth, everything she had once wished for and that she finally had again. He was stroking his hair tenderly and he had left his nose buried on it, smelling it and trying to hide his smile and his blush  as well . The two of them didn’t know exactly how to date but that was the least of their problems, they had two years' worth of conversations and actions to catch up on and it didn’t matter if it was slow or fast paced, it was mutual, it was love.

“My fucking  knuckles hurt”

“Of course they do! You hit him so hard”

“Well he deserved it, no one treats my girl that way” 

Anna rolled her eyes “That was so cheesy”

“But you liked it”

“I loved it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is fluff time! The final part of this story is finally out, did you guys liked it?  
Actually I could've made the fight longer but it is 1am and I was starting to feel sleepy heh so I am deeply sorry if one par of it doesn't make sense or it is not well written.
> 
> Today as I was writing this I kinda felt some of the things I wrote, and honestly if Level-5 ever decides to give this couple a conclusion I hope they make it canon...because...it was obvious and I feel robbed on how Orion is going to end...
> 
> ANYWAYS, next week we'll have a well known Inakumi member as the protagonist of this story, can you guys guess?  
Have an amazing week and I'll see you guys next Friday uwu


	9. Sex(ace) education.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mansaku Yuuichirou has never been a complex guy, he likes things or he doesn't.
> 
> In a world full of yes and no he has to talk about something he doesn't really like, but, it's also the key for him to stop feeling afraid.  
As he reviews his past actions on the love field, this guy has to be the teacher in such a complex topic, because, what's funnier than an ace talking about sex?  
Yes, noting else is.

** Sex ** ** (ace) education ** ** . **

There  are some things  in life that as human beings we can’t explain, irony is one of the many things that happen in life that we can’t explain, understand and even find it funny when it happens to us is the best example . As a good first year teacher (and also the politically woke kind of teacher) of  Raimon had decided to designate different topics to make a presentation about, it was for the science class so most topics were amazing or interesting that  Yuuichirou was relatively invested on, he couldn’t hide his emotion when the teacher mentioned his name on the list only and only to put into him the most pure form of irony ever made.

“Sexual education, contraceptives, some of the dangers you are exposed to it and what sexual relationships do on our body” it was a long topic but cutting to the chase he had to talk about something he could never be invested on. Not because he was trying to be a responsible son to his father but because  Yuuchirou was, in the most pure way of saying it, an asexual guy, he had even googled his lack of sexual attraction and found out that he  ‘fit’ into the asexual spectre making him probably the less interested guy on that topic yet, almost as if the teacher knew, he had designated to him talking about something that on top of not being interested in, made him a little bit uncomfortable.

Of course he was going to find a way to get out of it, so once the class was dismissed he approached his teacher in the middle of the hallway trying first to look interested on his class yet deep down he was wondering if he could swap topics with someone else, someone that would actually use the information and put it in practice. 

“Professor, that was a good class today”

“Oh, Mister Yuuchirou, it is always my pleasure when young people enjoy my spread of knowledge into the world”

“You are right professor I am always eager to learn, yet I was wondering about my topic...you’ll see I don’t see myself practicing any of the that...so I was hoping I could...”

“I am not going to change your designated topic Mister  Yuuchirou , I am sorry but I can’t go around changing my class calendar for one student” the old man said with a little smile while he stood in front of the young guy who was twice his size, with a little grin on his lips he pat the teenager shoulder and started walking in direction towards the professor's lounge “Sometimes in life we don’t have much choice and just do what we are told. Knowledge is the best thing we can continuously grow in our minds, and even if it is something you are not completely  comfortable, I think you’ll find it quite interesting. Now if you excuse me, I have an exquisite lunch to dig into”

Yuuchirou tried to cut the old man’s word s but he was left alone in the middle of the hallway, hopeless and in despair “That old bastard” He mumbled to himself while kicking an invisible rock on his way towards his classroom, a dreadful lunch was on his way.

He found himself staring at his personal computer with the browser open yet he couldn’t find the strength to type one single word that was related to the topic, he felt it was such a slap in the face. He had been so uninterested in that topic, why he had to be so into it suddenly? Groaning into the screen he threw himself into his bunk bed and buried his face into his pillows while his long hair got more and more over the place, a dead by intoxication was more interesting and desired that what he had to do. 

Life was probably laughing at him  at that point, or probably he was just an example of bad karma, whatever it was he felt so lost and for the first time he felt he couldn’t care less approve or not on a class.

Downstairs was always a good place to put his troubles away and he thought that today was no exception. Slowly he stood up from his bed and without even combing his hair he went to the first floor of his dorm; it was usually a bit noisy because his roommates were loud (to say the least) but he was shocked by being received with an empty living room and a quiet environment. The only person who was there was  Hiura who was painting quietly on a rather big canvas that was almost half of the size of the floor.  Hiura turned around once he heard the approaching steps of the oldest and greeted him with a smile making a gesture with his hand for him to stay around. 

“ Mansaku , hey! Check this out, my surrealism paints are getting better, don’t you think?”

“Well, it looks more professional” the taller replied to him while staring at the canvas with a small smile on the corner of his lips, he was rather impressed and proud to see that one of his best friends was actually making an  effort to practice and refine his raw talent.

“Thank you! Oh, this week is so jammed but I needed to finish this painting before starting my research on my Science topic, can you believe? I am in charge of the history of the Asian continent, how was formed and such, it’s the best topic ever”  Hiura smiled while finishing his painting, he looked so happy for his topic while  Yuuichirou was probably cursing to his god, or whoever was in charge of people’s destiny.  Hiura sensed that change on his gaze so he dropped his paint brush rather worried. “Is something wrong with your topic? You don’t like it?”

Mansaku shook his head from side to side trying to smile yet he couldn’t go through it and he let himself let a stressed groan into the air while he made a mess on his own hair. “I don’t like it remotely! How come am I supposed to talk about sex education and sexual activities when I couldn’t care less about it? I don’t care about that! I’ve never had! I think I am even a robot or some shit, I’ve never liked someone enough to share physical contact! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE” As the boy was  talking, he walked around the room leaving  Hiura speechless, then he kicked the nearest couch and then dropped himself to the floor in a dramatic way kicking everything around him, just like a kid throwing a tantrum because his parents decided not to buy him a candy from the store.

Hiura stared at him,  Yuuchirou was a guy who wouldn't never act that way, he was usually serious and relaxed, he was like a stone, nothing moved him yet he had emotions and he was caring to the people around him, he let a little sigh come out of his lips and slowly he sat next to him while smiling, his smile was a little bit nostalgic, almost as if he was remembering something from the past, and that’s when it clicked on  Yuuchirou’s mind, he quickly lift himself up from the floor staring at the other boy, both of them a little blushed but both knowing exactly why his confession  _ made sense _ between their relationship.

Not everyone was aware but not too long ago the two best friends had feelings for each other, actually they were each other’s first kiss. Everyone on  Inakumi soccer team knew that both of them were kind of a weird pairing but they let them be as long as both of them were happy.

Yet their relationship was a little bit, odd, they would act like nothing happened yet every once in a while, both of them would walk home holding hands, awkwardly kissing on  Hiura’s room, on the changing rooms and even on the back of their Middle School building. It was all nice until  Mansaku ended things without giving more explanations than they were not made for each other, there was no natural spark between them and that, things were really awkward every time they were alone.

“Oh, so that explains it all”  Hiura said with an awkward laugh staring into the nothing, it seemed he was remembering their time together and finding the reason why things never truly worked out between the two of them.

“...I am sorry, it’s just that...” Mansaku paused his words while a little grin came out of his lips remembering how weird his teenage years were, how awkward was the whole ‘sexual awakening’ phase for him. “I thought that since I wasn’t interested in girls maybe I liked boys...I feel super shitty when I remember that, it was almost like I used you but...I just wasn’t comfortable enough to be more intimate with you and I lied...geez I am a jerk”  Mansaku said laughing throwing himself again to the floor wanting the tiles of it to open and eat him, he rather all punishment in the universe than actually facing one of his closest friend and explaining to him why things happened the way they did.

“It’s fine”  Hiura said while laughing,  Yuuichirou lifted himself up faster than ever before with  disbelief on his eyes.

“What did you just say?”

“It’s fine” He repeated himself while grabbing his paint brush again continuing his painting. “Look, I will always love you, as a best friend and as a first lover. You made me realize I liked boys, you helped me to embrace who I was. Yes, I know things got a bit awkward between us yet we pushed through it, we made some kind of truce between each other and we continued being best friends. You’ve helped me with me ‘coming out’ to everyone, you made me realize something and now I think it’s a good time for you to listen to it.

You said I shouldn’t care what others think, and you should do it too. If you have or don’t have sex, kisses or a relationship it’s nobody’s business, you are yourself and you can’t let anyone decide for you. Do not let people invalidate you as a person, if you don’t like people, if you don’t want to have sex it’s fine, that’s who you are and you don’t have to change to anyone. Fuck the world’s opinion, fuck what people think it’s normal, I know that you would never have sex or that sort of things, but hey, it’s never bad to know all topics available, who knows, maybe one day you’ll meet somebody and you would want to do it, maybe not, but it’s better to be prepared than guessing on the last minute and ending up stuck with something for the rest of your life. Knowledge is the best weapon, it’s the best we have.”

Yuuichirou was speechless, he always had the same position related to those sorts of things when his friends would come with those type of problem, yet there he was, puzzling his mind, making himself feel less than everyone else, and what for? Society’s mindset was the least of his problems, he knew it now and forever.

With a little bit of  strength he pulled himself up again, and, as a way to close the two best friends love chapter, he hugged  Hiura from the back staying in silence for a couple of minutes, the blue haired guy didn’t oppose to his actions he even rocked both bodies from side to side. It wasn’t until the long-haired guy legs were feeling numb that he slowly broke apart from his hug.

“You know? You are going to be probably the only guy I've liked in my whole life”

“It’s an  honour , that I am an asexual guy only love”

“Don’t get too cocky, it might change in the future”

“I doubt that”

D-day was there,  Yuuchirou had worked really hard on his PowerPoint presentation, he even had put memes and references to make his topic a bit light yet keeping it serious. He was mumbling to himself what he was going to say, a little trivia and also some candies to the people that would answer to his questions correctly, he gazed into the classroom for  Hiura finding his best friend giving him a thumbs up and a stare that meant that he was sending him all the  strength on the world to finish his presentation as soon as possible.

Before starting his teacher approached him standing in front of the teenager who, was dressed up in a more casual way than his usual school  uniform . 

“Ah, mister Yuuchirou, I see that you are ready to go on this topic. I thought you were having problems with it”

“I had sir, but, it doesn’t really matter how I feel regarding this topic, I’ve realized while I did my research that giving sexual education goes more and beyond than just sexual acts and things like that”  Mansaku replied to his teacher while looking at him, the old man gave him a little smile and a pat on his shoulder, he had never seen his professor smile that way, almost like if he had planned this all along.

“Some years ago, I thought some things were unnecessary in my life, but, as I grew older, I realized that you can’t go around the world not knowing, not wanting to know. Wisdom is something not everyone can develop or wish, is something you are born with, something that increases the more you learn new things. We might not practice what we read about, but it’s always good to know about it.” He took a little pause while telling the class to stay quiet as he was about to start,  Mansaku was sweating a little bit and he was shaking a little bit, before leaving him he said one las thing “and remember, only because society expects something from us it doesn’t necessarily means we have to passionately do what they say, break the  mold , be bold and always embody who you are, nobody else will do it. Good luck kid, this is just the  beginning ”

Still nervous yet less afraid than before he could feel his classmates staring at him, he knew who he was, what he liked and what he didn’t, and, by talking about it, he could start accepting himself, and, almost as if in that exact moment he was never going to look back he started talking about that topic that, from now on, was not going to be an enemy but, an unexpected ally.

Because sometimes what we fear the most can bring us an incredibly amount of  strength .

And because, being afraid is the only way we can finally be free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This topic is probably the reason why I started to make this series on the first place.
> 
> As a member of the asexual community I've always found people who kept on bugging me on why I would give opinions on this topic, and, as a matter of fact I still wonder why it is a big deal.  
Knowledge is the best weapon we have on our hands and if you ask me there's nothing in this world that I don't want to learn. So, I encourage you, reader, to get all the knowledge you want cause that way you can let your fears go away slowly but surely.
> 
> Inazuma Eleven Orion is over and a bitch is crying, that bitch is me :(   
I am kinda too sad and nostalgic to make a longer note but by next week I'll probably write a rant and my views on the final chapter, hope you guys have a blessed day and I'll see everyone next week uwu. Hope you liked it


	10. Turning tables.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fubuki Atsuya has always felt that he was a straight up guy, never hiding what he felt.  
What if a question, a tiny question can trigger an amazing amount of doubt to his life?  
Now that he is about to turn 16 years old he realizes that a person he used to see with nothing but friendly eyes had become much more than that.  
What would he do?
> 
> Part 1 of 3

__ ** Turning tables. **

There are a lot of things in this world that we can regret or admit that we’ve done some wrong, decisions, actions and even conversations that we can totally regret in a matter of seconds and that they’re going to haunt us at 3am in the morning right when we’re on the verge of falling asleep cause the anxiety of our regrets it’s probably one of the worst things our generation has ever made part of their heritage. One of the many wrongs that someone can do in their life is turning down someone several times because we are not yet quite ready to admit that now we are the ones falling deeply for the other person and, to make matters worse, seems like the other person has finally moved on.

Atsuya was the type of guy who would fail classes, skip entire days of school and spend all his allowance on the arcades, he had never had a girlfriend but he can never spend a day on his class without a girl offering him chocolates alongside with the same words he was so used to listen after his soccer days were over “I like you” was always their opening and he would always cut them out before even letting them giving more explanations, he was tired and done, not because he wasn’t interested on girls but because he had already found a girl who suited his ‘standards’ but that, by a bad karma everyone suppose, she was not remotely interested in him and, to make things worse he haven’t even realized his feelings for her either.

Because believe me, if Atsuya would find out that he had feelings for  Shiratoya Nae he was going to have a stroke before even pronouncing those words; imagine if you spent almost an entire year saying you were nothing and felt nothing for someone just to find out that all your actions and emotions relating to that person were the complete opposite, that would  probably be the biggest blow on your ego and, for someone like Atsuya that could be catastrophic.

And you see, the two of them spent an awful a lot of time together, ever since they graduated middle school the two of them would go to places together, from doing homework to after school clubs and even lunches at school both of them would be side to side; after their difficult relationship on middle school both realized it was a bit childish to talk to each other that way and, in the mist of offering a truce with each other, they realized how many things in common they had besides their birthdays. Everyone in school assumed they were a couple but once someone would ask them if they were related in any romantic way both of them would laugh and start bothering each other saying how would they rather die before actually developing feeling for one another. 

It wasn’t until Atsuya was on his brother’s classroom to get his lunch that one of  Shirou’s classmate stopped him with a little nervous blush on his cheeks that made him a bit annoyed, he recognized that blush because some of the girls who would bother him had the same puppy eyed expression. And  trust me, the boy thought he was going to get a love confession when, in a matter of seconds his whole world was shaken upon a realization. 

“Hey, are you  Shiratoya’s friend?”

“Do I look like it?” Atsuya spitted sarcastically while the unknown boy let go a quite nervous laughter.

“I mean, you are always with her so I wondered...maybe if...” he mumbled his words while the red-haired teenager was getting more impatient, he was starving and  honestly, he didn’t care about his life. “If you can tell me if she’s seeing somebody, I really like her but I do not want to risk anything before I tell her how I feel”

“I  dunno dude, ask her, that brat’s love life is the least of my problems” Atsuya replied back rolling his eyes trying to walk past him only to get grabbed on his arm by the boy who was really  blushed and had all his face turned red.

“Please! I know you two are together all the time, she  has to tell you anything about her love life”

“Well she  hasn’t , now let me go”

Atsuya released from that other guy’s grip and went towards his older brother that stared at the whole scene with a little laugh with his younger  brother's lunch on his hands, Atsuya just grabbed his bento lunch and walked again out of the classroom not before telling his brother not to mention any of that scene to Nae, he knew she was going to tease him, t reason why was not specified but he just knew that was the way she was going to react.

While eating his rice Atsuya felt that question bothering him, last time he had talked about love with his friend was when he overheard that the Nosaka boy and a girl he didn’t know that well were in a relationship and both had said that they saw that coming by their behaviour and that both of them couldn’t see dating anyone not just yet.

He had been thinking about  Shiratoya a lot lately and not in a friendship type, sometimes she would appear in dreams were the climax was not exactly kid friendly, if you know what I mean, she was also in a lot of guys list on the prettiest girls not only on his school but also one of the prettiest in the whole city of Hokkaido. And you see, she was the type of girl who was obviously pretty and she didn’t pretend that she didn’t know, she was confident on her looks and that actually made her more appealing to anyone’s eye, including Atsuya’s even if he didn’t know that all the things he thought about her were a bit too far from being just a friendship.

His thoughts were consuming him to the extent that he skipped the rest of his classes and stayed on the rooftop of his school laying on his back on the floor staring at the always cloudy sky, he had barely talked with Nae and he had told her that if she saw  Shirou that she could tell him to bring his backpack at the end of the day, and you see, Atsuya have always being the type of boy who would stay long periods of time just reviewing and thinking things that were bothering him, not only love related, but about life, death and other topics, he felt the knowledge from some book were useless and that the real life was the best school he could ask for; yet the topic of that day was actually the question that boy had asked him regarding Nae, did they actually spent that much time together? And if that was the case, why he wasn’t ever aware of her feelings, and it’s not that he expected her to tell him that she liked him but, if his dreams and some weird thoughts were always related to the both them being more than friends, could that mean she had them too?

One of the benefits of Atsuya’s personality was that he didn't wondered that much on his thoughts, he knew if something was happening, he could detect what he was feeling about it, he knew what feelings he felt and what were his actions while feeling those emotions. Basically, he was one of the very few teenagers with emotional intelligence so it didn’t took him no conversation with his brother to realize that after hating on Nae he had realized that watching her mature and become slowly in a girl everyone wished to have on their side and that, against his best judgement, he had fallen for her after all those years.

No, he didn’t run towards her home to declare his love, he just throw himself on his bed and started laughing, remember when I said at the beginning how you have some invasive thoughts of embarrassing things that you did in the past and that come and haunt you? That’s what happened to Atsuya, no one on their right mind would take a guy who had spent trash talking the girl that now he finally liked and if that happened he would probably find professional help for that person, cause he realized how terrible friend he had been and how awful he had acted on all those past years. He just  buried his feelings, pretending they weren’t there and locking them up on the depths of his mind for a long period of time.

And so, the seasons passed by and his sixteenth birthday was approaching, he had let himself not feel a thing regarding Nae for almost 6 months as he pretended at the same time everything was fine.

February was upon its final days, cold weather but the snow that had fallen during the holidays was starting to slowly decrease yet it was going to be a long time till it  melts . 

As he walked down the street towards his school Nae approached him with some extra hot packs borrowing him some, he held into them on the palms of his hands as he was talking to Nae  about anything and everything, now almost every night he dreamt about her, imagining situations where he could freely share his feelings towards her and not feeling an amazing amount of guilt after the way he had treated her in the past. It had been a nightmare but he had gotten used to I over the days, now it was barely hard for him to pretend everything was in place.

“What should we do for our birthday?” Nae said while both of them were walking on the school grounds later on that day, he shrugged his shoulders while he kept his hands on his pockets and almost half of his face covered with a scarf. “I think we should make a little party at my home and invite some friends, since I am  older, we can try and stay awake until midnight so we can all wish you happy birthday on the first minutes of you day, what do you think?”

“Well, it’s fine, but my mom and dad want to have a birthday  lunch on your birthday, my dad has to travel to Tokyo early the next day so...it’s been a tradition so it’s  kinda settled, sorry” Atsuya said as he pulled his scarf down to show his face, hoping and expecting for Nae not to act in a dramatic way (as she always did when something didn’t go her way) but she slowly nodded while she continued walking  p utting her arms behind her back.

He felt a distance between them, and he was actually the one that had created it. 

“But don’t worry, I’ll stay with you on your birthday, I just have to leave around  11a m and then I can come back”

“I guess so...it just sucks, since we used to spend our birthdays together, it’s a shame that you have to leave for a little bit of time and then come back” The girl said while staring into the trees, he had intentionally made those plans, he knew that it wasn’t crucial for his dad to be on that birthday dinner yet, in order to get rid of his feelings for Nae he had to start spending less and less time around her; that made him feel guilty but it was the most healthy thing to do, well, at least to him.

He quickly changed the topic and both friends started talking about random topics, it was curious how hard Atsuya was trying to get rid of his feelings but, to everyone else, each day was more and more noticeable that the orange-haired boy was falling harder and harder for the ‘Princess of Hokkaido’

February 23 rd arrived and Atsuya was dreadful, all his energy was gone since the last 3 months he had being consuming and concealing his feelings, it was Saturday and even if he had no school, he woke up early in order to have breakfast with Nae. As he stared at himself on the mirror  Shirou made a special appearance after not realizing of his presence for weeks, maybe he had been there the whole time but he didn’t realize of anyone else on his little world besides Nae. The silver haired entered his room letting a little whistle come out of his lips.

“What?”

“You don’t look that good”  Shirou said while standing next to his reflection on the mirror, both brothers looked a bit different from each other normally, but, as Atsuya had shut himself from everyone now he looked sad and thinner, his mind was consuming him and it had took a toll on him.

“Excuse me?”

“Atsuya, you’re just skin and bones, look at you!”

“I lack of nutrients okay! Vitamin D and all that crap”

“Liar”

Shirou sentenced while he grabbed him by his wrist pushing him to his bed taking the younger brother by surprise, to be fair,  Shirou had noticed the switch in his behaviour for a time now yet he thought it would naturally get better it actually got worse and worse to the extent he didn’t recognize his brother no more.

“What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing! I told you already Shirou, there’s nothing wrong with me I just been feeling a bit sick, that’s all”

“Is it about school?” 

“No”

“Soccer?”

“Never”

“Nae?”

And as he had hit on the nail Atsuya sulked on his seat while staring into another point in the room that wasn’t his brother, he left a sight out of his lips and dragged Atsuya’s chair in front of him and took a seat.

“What she do now?”

“Nothing, we’ve been getting along, you know that”

“I know that you idiot, you guys were getting along really well, but now the aura is awkward between you two, you skip classes now, more than you actually did in the past, and she just tries to get you excited for things like before but you look so... soulless ”

Atsuya tried to dismiss all those things but as he tried to put on a smile he felt something crack inside of him, he barely even pronounced a word when he broke into tears, it was so weird, he felt an unhealthy amount of sadness and emotion, he couldn’t hold back his tears, he couldn’t hold back sobbing like a little kid on his mom’s arms as he couldn’t even pronounce a word to his older brother who was staring at him worried, had Shirou said too much?

It hurt, it physically hurt him, it was mentally draining, he didn’t know that holding in so much feelings could make you feel that tired and overwhelmed, he was in pain and had pretended to be strong for the longest time it had started to kill him, he didn’t know how to act so therefore he had to hold on, he could know what feelings he had but he never knew how to express them...he thought he was emotionally smart but he was like everyone else, learning, still learning how to show emotions. He had cracked under the pression.

After an hour of crying and sobbing Atsuya stopped crying feeling a bit better but his mind was still a mess.  Shirou had brought him breakfast and now he was eating silently while his eyes and nose were red, in silence the younger of the brothers ate his breakfast as the other one was staring at him. It wasn’t until he was done that Atsuya cut  Shirou’s words.

“I like Nae, I’ve always liked her. I realized on November or something like that. But, as I realized that I also came to the conclusion I am not suited to be with her; I've treated her badly on the past, talk carp about her and her father, made her feel bad for who she was, I cannot like her, my actions did the opposite yet I did like her. And you know? I can’t even tell her I like her, because she would never take me, she is so confident about herself that she would never take on a guy who spent years making fun of every little thing she did. My mind has been making plans in order for the two of us to stop being friends, but every time I try she just gets closer and closer to me, it’s driving me insane, she doesn’t need someone like me on her life, I am no good to her I am such a toxic presence yet she pulls me closer instead of pushing me. It drives me crazy; I've been trying to burry these feelings but they never leave, they get stronger as the weeks pass by, I can’t do this anymore”

“Does she feel the same way you do?”

“Do I look like I know?”

“Well, if you don’t tell her you would never know the answer to that”

“Did you listen what I said?  Shirou I am not telling her anything!”

Shirou took a deep breath as he stood up taking their breakfast plates and walking towards the door yet not moving from that point, he let a little laugh and turned around facing his little brother.

“I am not going to force you to do anything, but you’ve been crying for an hour, Nae had blown up my cell phone asking me why you haven’t arrived and you are less than happy to go to lunch with mom and dad. But if you want an end to this you’ve been feeling I recommend you to go to her house and tell her everything. You’ve never been afraid of telling people how you feel, I don’t see the reason why you have to stop now. As I told  Goenji a year ago, feelings are feelings and you’re entitled to feel them and, if you had noticed you were a bad person and you are willing to emend your mistakes you can take this type of risks. Now, you want to tell  mom you want to cancel your birthday lunch or not?”

Atsuya was sweating and he didn’t take a shower, his house and Nae’s house were apart by 2km, thank goodness it was still winter so he didn’t stink as much as he thought; quickly he started banging on the door of a home he had known too well by now and almost as he expected the door was answered by Nae who got happy yet  confused by seeing him at that time, they were supposed to meet up a couple of hours later yet she wasn’t going to hide the fact that she wanted to spend more time with him.

“You made it! What happened with you family’s lunch?”

“Nae”

“Yes Atsuya?”

“I need to tell you something...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, probably another pairing deserves a longer saga but trust me that I'm going to use my boy Atsuya to create the perfect love scenario I've been thinking about for the longest time now.
> 
> I promise not to disappoint you guys and if I do you're open to bash me on my twt acc @revelvelvets  
Anywayssss~ Tomorrow I am going to Las Vegas Pride and I am so excited to see what's going to happen, I wish you all a good day and I truly hope you enjoyed this chapter, any suggestions? You can comment, anything is widely appreciated uwu
> 
> See you all next week


	11. Conflict.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One crazy day has arrived, it's Nae's birthday and Atsuya has left things untold since he ran like crazy after realizing something.   
What would happen on "The Princess of Hokkaido"'s birthday?   
Gotta run and gotta hide, before midnight you have to let yourself fly.
> 
> Part 2 of 3.

** Conflict. **

_ ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ _ _ _ Ah yes, the internal conflict someone develops once they decide to show their feelings, Atsuya was fighting his common sense, his beliefs and basically what he had stated for weeks. Because you see, once you try to pretend nothing happens and believe yourself for a couple of weeks the idea of erasing that thought completely was much more difficult than anything anyone could imagine. 

He had spent all morning crying and now he had run an amazing distance just to say a sentence he had hold back for the longest time and, now he went mute as Nae was starting to stare at him worried, almost like something was wrong with him; his mind was running miles per fractions of second since he had said the last sentence that was still incomplete. Slowly a little grin came out of his lips and stared at the girl of his dreams.

“Happy birthday”  _ ‘fucking God you are pathetic, all this for you not to say a thing’ _ he said to himself again as Nae hugged him laughing and inviting him in.

“Thank you...but you already called me on the phone at midnight, I truly appreciate you saying it to me more than once” she smiled at him while both teenagers walked from her living room to her room (as in many occasions) and as he threw himself on her desk chair he could feel so out of place, he felt his presence on the universe for the first time in his short life, he could feel every bone in his body, every blood vessel, every little breath he was taking, the way things were going was not how he had planned. Atsuya told Shirou he was going to tell her how he felt, without letting her interrupting his words, he was going to tell her everything, even the fact that he didn’t want things to get weird between one and the other, he was going to tell her that he could understand completely if she was not ready and that she didn’t like him at all and, even so, he was just silently listening to her as she was showing off his family presents to her that she had received at breakfast time.

A weak smile came out of his lips as he saw her showing a limited edition of a bunny plushie she was wanting for the longest time, she was always so focused on the things she liked, always wanting more and always dreaming about it, she was truly a soul that you could see shinning, you could feel her warmth and you could feel her infectious happiness, she was truly a girl that you wouldn’t see every day and yet he knew he didn’t deserve her,  it was becoming  unbearable every moment he was breathing, he could feel such a heaviness on his shoulders as she was showing more and more stuff to him, it was painfully right knowing that she would never accept him as a lover, as a romantic interest, he was at that moment the most unhappy he had ever felt in his life.

As the day was progressing Atsuya was sulking more and more, if it wasn’t for the fact that Nae’s birthday celebration was going to be on a karaoke room and most of her friends were going to be there he was going to kill himself, and not  metaphorically . 

Usually he would’ve said something, invented an excuse or simply left when he saw half of his old soccer club teammates on the little karaoke place, but what difference would that make? The less time alone with her was better for him; without saying a thing he followed her from her house, towards the bus stop and finally on the little yet famous karaoke house near by downtown. Nae was quickly snatched by all of her friends, between hugs and kisses she was wished happy birthday over and over again, Atsuya just saw all that like a shadow in the corner of the room, thinking  pther places to be instead of there. 

To his surprise  Shirou wasn’t there, he assumed since the next day was Sunday he was going to take the train to  Inazuma Town and visit his old friends, he actually wanted to tag along, probably lie to Nae and tell her that since his lunch was called off his parents had decided to take him to his second home; it was a dumb idea but it could work, at least it made sense to him. Anything was better that spending more minutes in that little room with teenagers singing off tune and yelling at the top of their lungs songs that weren't his cup of tea.

Almost two and a half hours and an amazing count of soda and questionable food Atsuya had to step out to the bathrooms and clear his mind, it was not hard for him to be apart from her, yet all his teammates were making sure both of them spent time together, forcing them to sing duet songs, forcing them to sit right next to each other, he didn’t know if they were trying to help but that was the least they were doing, they were making him feel worse and worse by the minute, they were forcing her to see her happy and enjoying herself, forcing him to see that he had no space in her life and that he was rather a bother than adding up to her balanced life. As he was discharging fluids, he overheard two of his ex-teammates talking on the next two-bathroom  cubicles .

“Damn Nae looks so pretty each year that passes by”

“I know bro! And she is so much fun, like literally you never get bored with her”

“Yeah. Remember how intense crushes we had for her back in middle school? Damn it seems like it was  ages ago.”

“Is she with Atsuya?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“They give a couple vibe, I thought they started dating or something, you know how everyone was sure that behind him treating her that way it hid the fact he liked her”

“That’s hard to say man, they’re on a different school now, but what I can see is that both of them like each other”

“Yeah, everyone else is trying to give them both space to let the love happen, but both of them look so dense about it”

“What a waste, she is truly I gem”

“I know”

As the two teenager’s voices were fading away Atsuya was leaning his forehead on the little cubicle door, he had finished yet he couldn’t find enough courage to open the door and speak face to face to those guys, he was not feeling well, he wasn’t having fun at all and on top of all after all those years, was that the way he was going to be seen like? It was hard pretending to have none to zero feelings, it was hard holding himself up after those types of comments, he didn’t deserve to be happy too? Was he that terrible that he didn’t deserve to even be with the girl he liked? It was all messed up, that type of mindset, he lived in a world where he couldn’t be happy, because of past actions, because of who he was in the world. It was such a pain every breath he took; slowly he let himself down on the cubicle and he sat there for at least an hour, he could hear some of the rooms finally get quiet now there was a very few of noise and mixed up songs on the  building , some happy songs and some breakup songs, he couldn’t guess which one his friends were singing to now. He wanted to leave, but not by himself, he wanted to leave  _ with her _ . 

It was 11:30pm when Nae’s voice echoed on the hallway, he closed his eyes almost like doing that was going to make him invisible yet his phone started vibrating, Nae was calling him, slowly he picked up the call getting scolded by her at the very first second he accepted the call.

“WHERE ARE YOU?” He could hear that yell both from his phone and on the hallway making him laugh a little bit.

“I got bored, I am at the bus station, I got bored by being on the lobby by myself”

“Well I don’t care, I need to see you, it’s almost midnight I need to wish happy birthday to you”

Atsuya was about to say something when a faint smile appeared on his lips, she was so nice, so caring, so perfect and yet she was focusing all her attention on him, he didn’t deserve her. “It’s fine, oh, the bus is coming, call me at midnight, I’ll pick it up and I’ll wait for you on the bus stop, you can keep the call so I can take care of you if any creep gets on the bus”

“...fine” She said while letting a sight out of her mouth, at the same time he heard how her voice was now fading away as well, she was going home and now he could finally leave that place. “Oh wait, my dad is calling me. I’ll call you back Atsuya, please  please don’t answer any other call. It’s almost midnight”

“I promise”

“Atsuya, please do it...I feel you so distant already”

And she hung up the phone.

Atsuya smiled one more time, his plan had worked, he had pushed her away one final time, he was not going to pick up that call, and he was not going to be on her life from that day on, he was going to be on full mode of curving her, and sending her home was the last of his plan to separate each other once in for all.

He had won, he had finally made it, after so many months he had finally separated himself from her, that was it.

Yet, he felt the most unhappy, he felt like nothing. 

Was that the right thing to do?

Running was becoming Atsuya’s new way of moving towards places for the past 12 hours, the second he felt all the regret of the things he had done, not only for the past months but all the things he had done the past three years, he couldn’t help but running away, from that bathroom, from that karaoke room, from his fake happiness, it wasn’t hard to know what direction Nae was going around to catch a bus, the last bus, he could feel his legs were going to detach from his body of how fast he was running, his angst, his  repressed anger was coming out as every step he was taking, he was not going to let things end up that way, he wasn’t happy about it, and he knew she wasn’t either.

Panting and slowly losing his breath he caught up on Nae who turned around scared thinking it was somebody that wanted to do something to her, she had her phone in one ear and her expression quickly changed from worried to shocked with a bit of relief, nobody said a word and the only sound on the atmosphere was Atsuya’s phone ringing; she hadn’t cut the call and he didn’t picked it up until the call went to voice mail. She was smiling even if he had lied to her by being home and the fact that he didn’t picked up the call; she was fine because he was there with her, just like things were before.

A little rain storm was approaching, the wind was cooler and both of them were wearing winter clothes yet neither of them moved an inch, it was 11:59 and the inevitable tension was on the air, Nae smiled at him and let a little sigh of relief while getting one step closer to him.

“Happy birth —— ”

“I like you” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week another love relationship that gets developed. I wish this episode had come longer BUT it's just the right amount I was actually expecting cause let me tell you, things are going to get WILD on the closing part of this pairing.  
I truly hope you liked it and again, if you have any ideas or suggestions I am open to them. 
> 
> See you next week, I hope you enjoyed this. Take care of yourselves and drink lost of water. See you around. uwu


	12. Slow Burn.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confession and a bunch of changes are expected on this best friend's relationship.
> 
> Is the outcome good or bad?  
Or probably it's an open ending to take into consideration...  
As we come towards an end of this journey we realize that sometimes endings are just the opening act of something bigger.
> 
> What would be this time?  
Part 3 of 3

** Slow burn. **

The song of the engine of the bus was the only thing that was reigning on the atmosphere, there at least two other people besides the driver and the two teenagers, there was not many words that could be said, the words and confessions were already made yet the outcome was...blurry.

None of them had said anything ever since the young Atsuya had broken down and made the confession of a lifetime, both of them had quietly decided to jump on the bus once it stopped in  front of them, and in a silent deal they walked all the way to the back just to sit still next to each other yet feeling further away than ever on their lives.

The bus moved from the stop and continued its way now without both teens who were walking on a fairly known road, still in silence feeling how the storm that was announced on the forecast was starting to make its appearance. Atsuya was blank, his mind, his words, every single unit of himself was lost somewhere along the lines, he didn’t know if he left himself on the school, at his house or even on the karaoke room, it didn’t matter actually, he was just  relieved yet at the same time he felt that saying all those words instead of taking a burden out of him it had made it even harder to pass it on.

Atsuya was staring at a blank point on the sidewalk once Nae abruptly stopped in front of her house, without saying anything, without smiling, she was waiting for him to realize yet his mind was somewhere else, snapping his fingers on his face he finally  stopped staring into the nothingness and now into her who was looking the same as she was once he had confessed his feelings, pale and with a faded smile.

He was about to drop a sarcastic comment to ease up the awkwardness but Nae right when she saw his intentions stopped him by spitting and pouring her words in a sentence.

“Since when?”

Nothing could come into his brain to produce words; he shrugged his shoulders while stared into the light pole and its wires, how they  travelled and hoe he bet they could take him to Tokyo if he wanted, his eyes went to hers and there he found a fondness and warmth he had been looking all winter, slowly a grin appeared on his lips making her confused yet calm. 

“I guess it was when I first saw you, all jumpy and full of energy being the complete opposite of me, or maybe when we had our first match and without even proper practice we played together as if we were training before we were born; might say also when we saw each other that Monday after that match on school and you begged to have lunch with us since you had no friends. It could also be when we went together to that stupid dance since we didn’t have couples, you asked me with such calm and confidence even thought I had said all week long I was not going at all I guess you knew I was going to say yes to you as I always do. Probably when I turned 15 and you sneaked out a bottle of your dad’s sake and we got drunk that  Shirou ended puking on the side of the road.”

Atsuya made a pause as he saw how her eyes were fixated on him with no clear face expression on her face, she used to be a really vocal girl about how he felt and if it wasn’t on words you were able to see it on her eyes, but now there was nothing and, since she was mute, he decided it was a good thing to resume his speech, or probably his  pouring out of feelings that had been bottled up for so long.

“And I don’t blame you for thinking I am joking with you since my behaviour has always been the opposite, there’s nothing I can do to repair the damage I've done to you. I’ve treated you in a way that was so horrible, I said things and I was vile and despicable towards you. I don’t blame you not one tiny bit if you actually feel I am not an honest person with what I am saying, but trust me, trust me when I tell you I wish and I want to go  through a worse pain that you had with me in order to feel worthy of you and your feelings, not in a romantic way but even as a friend, I am not worthy not even as right now of your tenderness and actions towards me, I do not deserve nothing from you yet you are the best to me...and I don’t understand why...why you don’t hate me?”

A broken teenager was the only thing you could see by that point, every word poured out of his mouth had brought an amazing amount of tears to the young boy’s eyes, it was quiet and tiny bits of tears that were tracing down his eyes to his chin that were actually mixed with the light rain that was falling on the city, if you were looking from a distance you could think it was work of the rain but he felt it, he felt that pain and confusion, he had nothing left to say, he had done every single thing Shirou had told him in order to feel an ease on his pain yet he was not even close to feel relieved. He haven’t done anything worth of his freedom, he had tell the girl he liked for years now his feelings, he had shown the nature of his own self yet the world felt it was on the brink of falling apart and yet Nae’s silence was and went through for a couple more of minutes, it wasn’t until a thunder broke the peace of the sky and it had reflected his tears that woke Nae up from a dream, an illusion a lethargy.

“You’ve done so many bad things to me in the past that it’s amazing I was whiling to be your friend...and yet you think that redemption is years after doing something awful when you can do that seconds after saying something mean”

And the only thing that could release him appeared, Nae had come extremely close to him while saying those words yet he was the one who pulled her onto his lips starting an awkward yet not surprising kiss full of passion. It started slowly and a little bit rushed yet once he had imposed the pace it became more and more dedicated, more forged, more like in that second all that tension that had built up for years now was releasing.

It felt awkward and not as magical as he thought it was going to be, he could hear both sets of lips clicking and kissing each other, he could feel her tiny body curling up and wanting to touch more and feel more of his scent, both tongues were fighting to be on each other’s cavity yet it felt amazing, almost like if them kissing other people had never happened in their memory. Slowly and between awkward kisses they sneaked on her home, almost with a caution that they never showed they both lock themselves on her bedroom sharing and kissing each other again, having as companion the sound of the rain to cover up their desperate tries to grab some air without letting not even a second pass with both lips separated from each other. 

Both of them were wet from the intense rain and both wanted more yet it hit them, both were just turned 16 years old and whatever they felt like doing was a couple of years apart from their needs. Slowly the kisses slowed down and both stared at each other starting to laugh after realizing what was about to happen on her little girl room.

It was magical how they were trying to do everything so rushed, almost like if they didn’t have all the time in the world to move things at their pace.

1:20 am and the only people awake on their little universe where the two of them.

Atsuya had found himself on her bed while brushing her hair with his hand, she had been dozing off every once in a while, once their topics of conversation had died. Her door was locked and the rain that had been all over the city was starting to calm down. They had probably done that over a hundred times (but yeah, Atsuya was insecure his feelings were the same as hers) yet this time it felt different, and at the same time familiar, it had a closeness and a bit of tenderness that he  hasn’t felt in such a long time. It felt peaceful having and doing what he wanted with her without trying it to cover up as something else. 

Both of them felt asleep and didn’t have to face the universe and it’s ways until the next day once  Shirou was blasting his phone with calls over and over again and with the inquiry of why he haven’t showed up at home after curfew and why it was almost time his parents would realize he wasn’t home yet. He said goodbye to her with a kiss and sneaked out of her house through the window and to his house, it was probably going to be a birthday to remember yet...he didn’t have any plans on how to celebrate it.

As he was sitting on the family dining table all washed up and eating his  favorite breakfast he could feel his smile was wider than any day on his existence, his parents were actually surprised and shared quick and cautious stares, everyone on the neighbourhood were actually rooting for him and Nae to hit it off (they even had a secret bet) and maybe, just maybe, things were finally hitting off between those young lovers. No words were said about what happened on Nae’s birthday celebration and now the conversation was focused on what Atsuya wanted and what were the things he felt like doing.

“We could go to the park and have dinner there” His mother suggested as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Honestly, anything is fine for today, I don’t mind”

There was nothing decided yet but once his father suggested for them to go their  favorite ramen restaurant at dinner everyone agreed and settled for that to be the big celebration on Atsuya’s 16 th birthday.

Atsuya was chilling on his room and cracking his head with what type of message to send to Nae after what happened last night, should he be all clingy and lovable? Or he didn’t have to change his ways towards her? Over and over again he typed messages that were immediately deleted as he threw himself on his bed, he didn’t know exactly what to do, he had never realized that after kissing with a friend nothing was never the same and now, he was puzzled in between what to do, what to say and what to expect.

Shirou knocked on his door and he entered while a little grin on his lips appeared once the younger of the two unglued his eyes from his phone, like last time the oldest dragged a chair and sat in front of the bed, he let the silence reigned the room for a couple of seconds after he shoot his words.

“How did you make out last night?”

Atsuya choked on his saliva and coughed really bad for a couple of seconds as  Shirou stared with a proud smile all that he had  anticipated for years was developing in front of him, he was proud and he was not going to hide it.

“How did you...?”

“It’s written on your face idiot. You have the face of a guy who had never been happier, and your lips are freaking purple, did you  kiss for hours or what?”

“4 hours in between we felt asleep and woke up” Atsuya said with a grin while raising his eyebrows repeatedly.

“Damn, then what is it now, are you dating or...?”

“Wait, do we have to choose?”

“I mean yeah, you can’t go back to pretend that didn’t happened at all, I thought that between those kisses you had told her you wanted to be with her”

Oh, for the love of God, it wasn’t over then. His anticipations on love and relationships had failed him once again. He forgot that after kisses people usually settled down what was the deal but...the two of them haven’t said a thing...just kissing and more kissing.

He didn’t have an answer on what he wanted with her, yes, they had kissed and told each other quite what the felt for one another. But was there truly a pressure to move things forward? He didn’t feel like it, he had always said it, he was never the type of kid that once he found someone, he liked he would strictly go for it, and the funny part is that he knew Nae was the same, he was not going to let people tell him and both of them what to do in order of their romantic affairs, so, in order to find it he texted Nae after almost 17 hours of no conversation whatsoever, yes, it was awkward but he didn’t regret not even one tiny bit of what happened last night. 

_ ‘Nae, I am having dinner at our favourite restaurant, if you want to come that would be great. Anyways, turning 16 doesn’t feel that much different...life has lied to us’ _

A couple of hours had passed by and now he was enjoying some drinks with his family and waiting for their dishes when the little bell of the tiny restaurant ringed announcing new customers, it was no other than  Shiratoya’s family and, without flinching they invited them to sit together, father and daughter sat with the family who had forcibly put a birthday hat on their youngest, while joking and smiling they also ordered food, pranked and made jokes to each other, singing the happy birthday song to both of their kids and how slowly the laughs and conversations were fading away on the atmosphere.

Atsuya was sitting on the outside of the local, it was chilly and he was smiling even more than that morning, finally after so many years he had truly enjoyed an evening with the people he trusted, it was so tiny and personal he couldn’t  ask for more. As he was staring into the sky a tiny person came out of the door and sat next to him, as he turned his face his smile was wider and the little girl sat next to him smiling as much as him.

“That was a good party”

“It really was...and it didn’t  involve loud music and like...14 teenagers”

Nae’s laugh filled the air as both of them were staring into the street watching some cars passing by.

“ Shirou says we should move things forward...”

“That makes no sense” Nae replied as she laughed a little bit more, slowly she got closer to him as he passed his arm around her shoulders, since he didn’t say anything she continued talking. “We’ve knowing each other for 4 years now, we have reached a point where we are comfortable, you just can’t jump from one mechanic to another...it just makes it confusing and that’s how breakups happen. You need to get used to change and not forcibly make it happen. I guess we liking each other is a big deal to each other besides us since we knew it for years now”

“I guess you are right, Nae”

“If we are going to start changing at our pace our  relationship, I want you to know something, Atsuya”

“Go  ahead ”

She took a deep breath and smiled while holding his free hand and moving it in a  playful manner.

“You hurt me in the past and I let it slide because we weren’t close, but believe me that if you treat me the way you used to it’s over, it doesn’t matter how much I like you...you can’t treat people you like that way and expect zero to none consequences. And I’ll change too if there’s something I do that it’s wrong, we are going to change for better and we are going to avoid being one of those stupid couples that do things rushed because people tell us to, okay?”

He liked her so much for all those words and more, and as he stood in silence, he realized all the pain he had gone through those past months, how terrible he had felt and how easy was to find forgiveness once one is completely  whiling to change and emend their mistakes. Probably life gives you chances that you hold into once you are ready...and that’s what probably growing up means all along.

“We’ll do it our way, I promise”

“Happy birthday, best friend”

“Happy birthday, best friend”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap for my lovely couple of idiots. If you guys have any reactions about it I wouldn't mind you guys commenting on them on the comments or also on my twitter acc @revelvelvets (?)
> 
> I have a whole week off work and I am getting supper creative on what to do next, as you've noticed this story is one of three that compose a series of coming of age stories that I've been thinking for the longest time and as it says on the description Time of our Life is coming to an end on their 14th chapter meaning there's two more chapters to dive into.
> 
> But! do! not! worry! Cause my next series Youth is coming once Time of our Life is over, can you imagine who is it about of?? Well, if you are curious go ahead and search for it since it's now posted on AO3 and it's coming up any time now.  
I hope everyone had a blessed day, enjoy your day and eat your meals and drink lots of water, take care and I'll see you guys next week, take care uwu.


	13. School counseling.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobitaka Seiya is your next door gangster, loved by his friends yet feared by his schoolmates, is that the only thing someone can know about him?   
We'll figure it out right here, right now.
> 
> A new end of the year dance is approaching, can you guess what would the end of this journey is going to bring this group of friend who had been together through think and thin over the years?  
Would they go out through the big door?  
Would their goodbyes be as legendary as their soccer matches?  
We are one chapter away to figure it out, get ready, it's coming up next.

** School  ** ** counselling ** ** . **

It seemed more normal for the old lady that served as receptionist of the public high school to see the same student at least once a day, it was actually a routine for her, every day they became closer and closer, the student would help her to finish her crossword or asking her about a book she was reading since the only thing they had to deal with almost every day was that student’s bad behavior. In the other hand, said student, would literally be on their way on the principal’s office before any teacher would tell him to go to, it was used to that that student would know that their actions were going to be severely repressed so, as if it was more interesting, they would go to the principal office, loose a good portion of their day and get off by the time lunch was set to happen, more than knowing their wrongs it was more like a mini recess after their actual recess.

And you see,  Tobitaka Seiya was not your typical kid, he was a gang leader and a known bully (to people that asked for it), trouble student and... not that bright yet he had an amazing talent for getting in trouble, no one in his school knew how he could always do something so dangerous yet no one catch him on the act, they just assumed he was responsible for it and forced him to stay after hours cleaning his classroom. That day just like any other he was sitting with the school’s receptionist when the school principal appeared in front of him pointing to his door meaning it was time yet again for their  everyday conversation.

“Okay Mr.Seiya, what was it today?” The old man said with a rather tired look on his face while he sat on his side of the table reading some documents without much care, it was a waste of time on his words so might as well he could use those minutes to do some extra paperwork.

“Allegedly I was kicking some kids on the corner of the building. But to be honest with you I don’t recall hitting anyone, that’s so not me.” The teenager said while putting his feet up and letting them rest on the table, the old man put down his paper and, with the pen he  was holding on his left hand, he pushed the young boys' feet down forcing him to sit properly again.

“We know, you are a victim of discrimination and you only answer back, blah blah I've heard that before” The principal took his glasses of while rubbing his forehead while blinking a couple of times, after that he regain his composure and put his elbows on the table crossing his hands and letting them rest on his lips. “The school’s broad wants you to take these upcoming exams seriously, since they’re the last ones before the graduation ceremony. I know it’s hard for you since you barely cross the minimum required but it’s a must that you at least surpass the mark by one point, otherwise the “E” word is on game here, and it’s final” 

“Expelled?”  Tobitaka said while raising one of his eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders, it wasn’t something he wasn’t aware already; you see,  Tobitaka could be all what you wanted but that kid was responsible on his school field, his tactic was doing just the bare minimum to pass and save energy for fights and scaring other gangs away. Of course, nobody knew, nobody from that school and that’s why he was so used on always succeed everyone's expectation, so him listening to that speech was nothing new.

A little smirk appeared on the teenager’s face and he let himself up the chair while knocking on the wood, probably as a calling for good luck, or probably to state a fact “You don’t have to worry for that, Kiseki, I always surpass what people think of me. Anyways, what’s the punishment? Cleaning the classroom again?”

“It’s Mr. Umihara ...and yes, also water the plants in front of the  infirmary , once you’re done you can go home”

“Whatever, see you tomorrow,  Kiseki ”  Tobitaka waved his hand while leaving the office, it was time for lunch and on his mind all he could think about was what to eat and where to eat it without finding people staring at  him and trying to test him out.

Mr.Umihara let his glasses down on the table while now rubbing his eyes staring at the now open door letting a little sigh from his mouth. “That little bastard”

The school cafeteria was like your typical social jungle, teenagers talking over the other, little cliques, questionable food and always a chance to catch a good drama; a whole damn circus when all you want is go home, sounds familiar?

He knew his reputation was not the best yet that was the least of his problems, and you see, he could be a trouble teenager yet him saying he only responded when provoked was true.  Tobitaka had quite a reputation of being a gang member yet people assumed that was the same of being a bully, don’t get him wrong, they can be the same in most of the times, but he had to be a gangster in order to live, he had no parents and the orphanage system was as a failure as society not to judge him. He would sometimes be intercepted by snobby rich kids and trying to intimidate him and only to be barred away with his powerful kick and, since he didn’t deny he was a gang leader, it was easy to his teachers to throw all the blame on him and call it a day. He knew people were staring at him as he was getting his tray of food, he knew he might not be able to finish his food since a punk ass kid would try and fight him, he knew all those things that the moment he turned around half of the people were staring at him, oh great, cause not even lunch was going to be awkwardness free.

He sat on a table on the far-left corner of the cafeteria while staring through the window and catching a glimpse of the outside world, the real world, and with little to no interest he started eating the little portion of rice he was given. A little notification on his phone appeared and he quickly picked it up, it was his friends group chat, the common topic was the same as the last few weeks, the end of the year party and the annoying question of whom to take to the dance since it was a couple only event.  Tobitaka rolled his eyes while he sent a  meme to his friends who just asked him for the millionth time if he was going to take  _ that _ person to the dance.

“ These bitches ” he whispered while leaving his chopsticks on the tray starting to type as fast as possible, the following conversation was between him,  Nishikage (his old gangster friend), Nosaka ( Nishikage’s bff and crush) and  Goenji .

‘Why can’t you all leave my butt alone and stop asking me to ask this person to go with me?’  Tobitaka’s little picture of a meme displayed appeared on the bubble of conversation

‘Because you are stupidly in love with her and she’s basically your only friend? Isn’t that enough reason you dumb bitch?’ This time it was a watermelon picture that replied to him, Tobitaka suspected it was Nosaka who answered.

‘Hey cut him some slack, they're just friends, he can’t go around her and ask her to the dance of a school he doesn’t even attend, it’s MY school’s dance, remember?’ The only guy with a normal profile picture appeared ( Goenji ) and that  comment made  Tobitaka agree almost like he was talking to his friends face to face.

‘Whatever it is, are we still eating at the convenience store after school’  Nishikage’s lack of profile picture appeared making everyone laugh and send some emoticons with laughing noises appear.

‘Yes’

‘Yeah’

‘Let’s go see your love, if you aren’t asking her out at least you’re going to talk to her over the counter making her boss nag her, don’t you  Tobitaka ?’ Nosaka replied which made  Tobitaka choke on his water, quickly he took a selfie of him showing the middle finger and he  sent it to the group chat that, after that, changed the topic to soccer scores and other things he was not interested in. 

He let his phone down and resumed eating feeling a lot of stares on his direction, not directly to him but to a female figure that was eating in silence just like him, there was nothing wrong with her yet half of the students were staring at her, he didn’t know why until he realized she was sitting on the same table as him, a capital sin apparently, and that simple and mere fact would make her target of  harassment ; it was messed up but yeah, since people wanted to test  Tobitaka they would automatically harass anyone who was close to him and made them think it was the teenager’s fault turning everyone against him, it was not fair at all yet that was the price he had to pay for being the school’s punchbag and outcast.

Funny how he was the one labelled as  the bully yet he was receiving this treatment, yeah, system failed him terribly and once again he had nobody to lean on, well, at least at school.

He tapped his fingers next to the unidentified girl’s tray and she as him let his phone down and stared at him with a doubtful expression, she looked familiar yet he couldn’t place her down so he whispered towards her, the quickly she left the better, he was tired of always  seeing how the new people would get horribly treated just because they chose to be kind to him.

“Hey, can you change from table?”  Tobitaka said while the girl was now chewing a little bit of meat, she didn’t say anything at first yet when she realized he was being serious she shook his head from side to side.

“No”

“No?”

“Is this whole table taken?” The girl questioned him as she fixed her red hair behind her shoulders and staring to the side catching some people stares.

“No but...”

“Free country, I seat where I want”

“You don’t get it...they’ll bother you after lunch”

“Who?” She replied back while now eating a  spoonful of rice.

“ _ Them _ ”

She stared at him and then she inspected the whole cafeteria with her eyes, scanning every table looking at the table who was full of guys and that had never taken their eyes away from her the second she sat on the closest empty table; letting a little laugh she fixed her silver eyes on him shrinking her shoulders.

“God, I wish I could care”

The girl resumed eating letting him a bit of distress, she didn’t say anything else and he finished her food rather quickly, cleaning his tray and leaving it on their designated place was what he did, he liked chilling on the cafeteria but, for her safety, he decided to leave hoping that they would take that as a sign that she  wasn't friendly with him but it was more like a chance than deliberately two friends sharing lunch. 

Lonely, that’s how he felt, it was hard enough for him to trust people, but going into a school that was basically treating him as their punchbag was another level of cruelty; he couldn’t have friends, he was always linked to things that weren’t his fault, every person that got close to him would be punched and mistreated until they were forced to stop talking to him, he was isolated without wanting it, he felt so damn sad that the only way he could cover it up was by portraying fake confidence and only his close friends would know how hard was for him every day and how happy he was knowing that within the next month he was going to start his last year of high school on a different school. Yeah, he had secretly applied for Raimon High School and was selected on the exam,  finally he could be on a place that was not filled with people who would go to every extent to make his life misery.

Hours passed by and  Tobitaka waited until everyone left to go to the cleaning closet on the hallway and, as the principal has told him, he was going to clean his  classroom since nobody else was assigned, or well, that’s what he thought.

The same girl was with her headphones with the broom he couldn’t find on the closet, sweeping the classroom,  Tobitaka was a little bit shocked and it wasn’t until the girl  caught his glance that made her stop sweeping and a little grin appeared on her lips.

“I didn’t know I had someone else to do the cleaning, the list said it was my turn to clean, guess I was wrong” She put her hand on the top of the broom letting her chin lest over it staring at the guy who shook his head while stepping up in from of her.

“I clean for everyone. I always get detention for the same thing; it's supposed to be a two people job but since no one wants to deal with me they let me do it all by myself, come on” he paused while taking the broom from her while signalizing her to leave the classroom “you can go home, our homeroom teacher would think we did it so it’s fine. Go home”

“That’s messed up, while would they leave you alone to do all that by yourself?” She  questioned while taking the broom from his hands and keeping it up on her side.

“You don’t hear the rumors about me?”  Tobitaka spilled while staring at her with one of his eyebrows raised.

“I don’t care about that crap; I am not staying here long enough to figure it out. I’ve heard they say you are a bully, a freaking sociopath but you are just like every other guy, stupid and in love of soccer, just like my brothers” She said laughing at it and almost like if that settled up their fight over the broom she resumed her job sweeping the part left of the room. “People tend to say you are a freaking animal but you only react at the fifth punch they give to you; seems to me the problem is them. But you can’t expect them to take the blame. My brothers tell me cool stories about you and since I trust them more than these kids, I chose to believe you are not as bad as everyone says.”

“Who are you?”

“I guess you wouldn’t recognize me, you only go to Sun Garden to hang out with Tatsuya and exclusively with  Shuuya . I am one of his sisters, well, step sisters, Miya Mina” The girl said while still sweeping, just by hearing the name he placed her face; ever since he had gotten close to the whole  Raimon football club he had befriended with Tatsuya and  Midorikawa a whole lot and it wasn’t weird for him to know all the member of Sun Garden treated each other like brothers, he had even ran into her a couple of times but everyone in the team mainly knew her by situations Tatsuya and  Midorikawa would describe, she was a reckless girl who didn’t fail to judge and roast them at any chance she had. She didn’t care about people’s opinion about her and she was truly a sister from another mother to both of them and after all those years of the two of them talking about her he could finally place a face to that name.

“Oh...I see, so you’re their favorite sister then.” He paused while he grabbed a little washcloth and some window cleaner starting his own job as the girl let a little groan, it was probably the hundredth time she heard that comment yet she didn’t act in a mean way towards him. “Let’s just finish this crap, I need to go places and the more I stay here the later I'll arrive...no offense to you”

“It’s fine, I couldn’t care less about your social life” She snapped back jokingly as the two of them cleaned their classroom in no time and he could move into his next chore which he finished rather quickly and a bit hurried, he had more important things to do, like going to eat ramen and hanging out with his friend, the store clerk, the only person in this world that would treat him as a person rather than an animal, it was that time of the day to go and hang out with his eternal crush,  Fuyuka Adachi.

The little convenience store near almost all the soccer players neighborhood was rather comfy and cozy than anything else, the store was owned by a young couple and employed the young girl for a couple of hours after school; she was well known since she used to play with  Endou since they were little, she was introduced to them once they needed an extra manager for their team and ever since that moment  Tobitaka had fallen head over heels for her. They became close over the weeks and now everyone knew they had a good friendship one with the other, if you needed a reference, they were the Pam and Jim of  Raimon and everyone could see they were genuinely friendly and cordial. 

Once that group of friends crossed the door they were greeted by her who was reading behind the counter since they was still one final exam to present before the end of the year ceremony, playing with her mechanical pencil as she was trying to memorize all those math formulas Tobitaka, who had found what to eat quickly, placed his items in front of the counter breaking her concentration as she greeted him with a smile and almost as a reflex she started to scan his items.

“So, yesterday I watched that series everyone is talking about, the one with the little girl with super powers”  Fuyuka said while staring at the register pushing buttons, their conversations used to be like that, with no opening and ‘hellos’ it was straight to the point that it seemed they were on an interminable conversation 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

“And, what you thought about it?”

“Meh, could’ve been better, I felt asleep while finishing my flashcards for tomorrow’s exam.” She said while smiling proudly raising her head and left hand showing him at least 50 little flashcards. “270 yens”

“Ah, your calculus teacher would be proud of you, looking how hard you study considering how bad are you remembering formulas” He joked handing her the money as she rolled her eyes grabbing the money and putting it on the drawer.

“Hey, cut me some slack, last week’s chemistry exam was super hard and my mind can’t focus on two things at a time” She hit him on the forehead as he playfully laid back on his back making it hard for her to reach him almost making her fall causing both of them to burst into laughter. “Come on, let me finish studying before my dad comes down and supervise, I am not wasting time. Last time he told me I was making friends with too many customers that I didn’t finish my chores”

“Fine  fine , but that’s not going to stop the fact I’ll be back once we’re done studying to talk to you”  Tobitaka replied grabbing his food and change seeing how she almost reached a second time to hit him yet failing again making him laugh more.

“Go!”

He raised his hand and moved it side to side walking back to the table with his friends who were staring at him smiling mischievously at him, Nosaka was staring at him while trying to hold his laughter,  Goenji had one of his eyebrows raised and  Nishikage was sipping his juice box oblivious about what was going on in the universe while Tobitaka showed them the middle finger and sat on the remaining chair.

“Can we please focus on studying? We all have exams left yet”

The three friends agreed while still making fun of him and, without saying much about the topic they spent an hour and thirty minutes studying non-stop, asking each other  questions and filling pages after pages of topics to come on their final exams.

Every once in a while, he would raise his stare to  Fuyuka who was reading and mumbling to herself from her book, he knew that convenience store was dead most of the time and its peak was on the mornings and by the time they closed it just member of the soccer club would appear to buy from them so it was no problem for her to do her homework on the counter, actually he knew a lot of things about her. He knew what she liked, what made her mad, he knew her favourite food and the things that made her happy. It was a weird feeling; he didn’t know he liked her until  Goenji pointed at him that he had the same behaviour as him with his now partner, knowing what they were doing, the feeling of being together all day and almost every day, staring at them while not saying anything thinking how happy their lives were by having them next to them, breathing the same air, he had never realized he could like someone, maybe he could only develop feelings for people he knew for a period of time since he had only showed that type of interest on her after two years of knowing each other.

He was caught by  Goenji and he pretended to pay attention to his self-study, he chuckled while paying attention once again to his textbook, ah love, it makes us dumb but it also makes us happier than anything else.

As the sun was setting on the city it was time for them to go back home and, almost as if it was planned  Nishikage and Nosaka took off first leaving the remaining two on the table, for a second  Fuyuka had to go to the storage room and now both of them were left completely alone,  Tobitaka was about to easy the awkwardness when Goenji, almost like if he could sense what he was going to say, talked before Tobitaka could.

“You have to invite her at least. Even if you don’t like her, seems to me that going together would make the social gathering less awkward”  Goenji snapped at him while getting his stuff on his backpack getting ready to leave too.

“Hey, I thought you supported me on the whole not wanting me to do something I wasn’t comfortable with”  Tobitaka told him as he got up his chair faster than ever knowing well the other  boy's intention.

“I know, but I know you want to talk to her more than just on this place, you don’t even talk to us if we don’t talk to you first, come one, stop being so dense about it and give it a chance. Who knows, maybe she likes you too” He said while putting his backpack on his shoulders starting to walk to the exit.

Tobitaka rushed to his side trying to stop him yet he did it by himself and he turned around one last time before speaking again.

“I used to dislike the idea of somebody loving me, because I didn’t do it myself, but sometimes you need someone else to love you in order for you to love yourself. And if she isn’t the person it’s fine, at least you can say you went to your first party with a partner.” He  shrugged his shoulders as he stepped out of the store “Good luck”  Goenji said leaving the store.

Tobitaka was staring at the now empty place holding his breath, no, he had to leave. Quickly as possible he crammed all his stuff on his backpack, he was ready to leave yet  Fuyuka appeared again standing on the counter while looking at him smiling.

“You guys done for the day?” She questioned as she resumed studying grabbing her mechanical pencil and reading some of her notes. 

“Yeah, I am done too, I have to go before they closed the orphanage doors on me” He joked while she let her pen down and stared at him again slowly nodding at him.

“Okay, text me when you arrive, I have some good topics of conversation for today’s phone call.” She paused while laughing a little bit. “ Nishikage can’t get over Nosaka dating someone else” 

“I know, it’s actually painful to watch. Maybe we can come up with a way for them to patch things up with the other”

She nodded with him and he quietly raised his hand in a little wave to say goodbye, and he took some steps asking himself if he was going to ask her over the phone, no, that made no sense since if he got rejected at least in person he could affirm her he was not hurt and that they could still be friends. Maybe  Goenji was right...taking risks was good every once in a while.

“Hey Fuyuka”

“Yeah?”

“Do you  wanna go with me to  Raimon’s party for the closing ceremony?”

“You do realize it’s my school’s dance, right?”

“Yes”

“You do realize that I have to invite you?”

“ Ye..what ?”  Tobitaka stared at her with a confused expression on him,  Fuyuka was still reading her book while he turned his face to her.

“You want to go with me?” She asked staring at him with a little grin on her lips.

“I’ll love it”

“Good, now we have two topics of discussion on our phone call tonight”

“I guess you are right”

Tobitaka was flying on a cloud,  studying for his last test was doomed since now all his thoughts were going to be directed towards her and the longing of the end of the year ceremony day to arrive.

Maybe listening to  Goenji once in a while  wasn't a bad idea after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left and I can't believe I produced so many words for this chapter.
> 
> To be honest with you guys, FuyukaxTobitaka is my favorite crackship, like they're so opposite from each other that I love it.  
As you guys noticed, Fuyuka is not the adoptive daughter of coach Kudou, cause...that would be the death for our poor Tobitaka. (Besides if Kino can play with timelines I aswell can)  
Ahhhh I am in love with this project you have no idea.  
Anywayssssss, next week we say goodbye to Time of Our Life and we start a new chapter, are you as excited as I am?
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment on your thoughts and I'll see you next week, have a wonderful day and I hope you have a blessed week uwu.


	14. Everyone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Results are out, graduation ceremonies are coming up and the most important thing of all, Raimon Highschool's dance is happening, what pairings are we seeing? What would be the climax of this story that had more ups than downs?
> 
> As we end this story there's so much to say that maybe using all the words in the world can't express the rush of emotions growing up can make us feel.  
Can friendship overcome this last obstacle? We're about to see it.

** Everyone. **

The only thing he could listen was the intense whispering of his classmates all over the auditorium, he could also hear the headmaster’s speech over the speakers and he could swear he had heard someone blasting music on their Bluetooth speaker (probably Tatsuya) And you see, the end of the year ceremony was nothing but boring, just a stupid speech saying how people had overcome their previous problems and grown up from them, how new friendships had blossomed, how the students were slowly growing up and becoming the new generation everyone was looking for, he could bet whatever he wanted that all those speeches he had heard them before, yet, what he was saying didn’t sound like pre-fabricated speech that the headmaster would say year after year knowing nobody was paying attention to what he was saying, he thought it was something never heard before,  because he was right.

Nishikage had learned over the course of one year that a lot of things he thought were going to be forever ended and, as well, he realized that he did things he said he would never be a part of.  Nishikage had gained new friends and awkward experiences; while recalling of  Yuuchirou gave his class sex-ed classes and even handing out free condoms to his class, seeing Tatsuya holding hands with his now boyfriend Hiroto once school was over, realizing and reading while chuckling  Fudou’s emo blog (that was still running out) He was one of the most shocked people when he realized that  Hiura from the class next door was dating no other that the new self-proclaimed bisexual icon Mizukamiya. It had been a heck of a year, yet those all events weren’t even close to the most overwhelming turn of events that still took a toll on him.

His one and only love was in love...with a girl.

And you see,  Nishikage and Nosaka have known each other for a long time now, fifth grade pals, ride or die duo, he had never left his side ever since he met him on that burning building seeing how little he cared for his own life in order to fulfil a purpose to make the world a better place to live. At first it was friendship, yet something inside  Nishikage made him realize that he saw his only friend as something else, no, he was not fond into boys or girls, he was only fond for Nosaka, he was the only person who could make him feel alive and that living life wasn’t as miserable as he thought. It was a hard thing to admit to himself that he loved him, but it was ten times harder to realize that ever since she came onto the picture Nosaka was no longer his, probably never was, and that, he had to  bear with the fact that his love was unrequired.

They were used to talk about anything while eating but ever since he had met her that was the only thing Nosaka would talk about with such investment, he thought it was common interest but once he realized that Nosaka behaved the same way he himself would act thinking about his best friend he realized it was time to stop. But he didn’t want to, he couldn’t fit on his head that all his life and future goals he had planned with Nosaka were shattering away...and all because of her.

Before anyone would notice or say anything, you have to realize  Nishikage at any moment said bad things about Anna, Nosaka or any other person that shown feelings towards him, he was truthfully hurt because he thought he was going to be with his best friend forever, with no other people in the middle. He didn’t know what to do, he had to stay silent for months and months looking and letting himself being left out of the couple’s plans because they were directed more in the love field. They tried to include him when they weren’t romantic escapades,  but slowly he realized he was no longer required on his life so he, by own choice, decided to hang out less and less with the couple. 

No one had realized on how hard it was on him until he felt one of his friend gaze on him alongside with the acquittance he had made from the convenience store, both of them, together were staring at him while he had actually listened to the whole speech of the headmaster who was now forcing all the students to get ready and sing the school’s anthem.

Nishikage had successfully drifted apart from Nosaka over the course of six months after his gossip of him dating Mikado Anna blown up the whole city, and he was one step closer until he was chased down and taken by his two friends onto the rooftop of the school building after the ceremony ended, it was picture time yet he wasn’t feeling like it, as well as being confronted by his own actions.

Goenji had grabbed him by the arm and  Fuyuka was pushing his back to rush his steps towards the lonely place, it didn’t matter if they were messing up their paper flowers they had pinned on their uniforms due to the occasion, both of them were sure of what they were suspecting that they didn’t even take the time on asking him what was wrong,  Nishikage was confused but it all made sense once  Goenji shot his words now that the three of them were on the rooftop alone.

“Do you dislike Nosaka dating someone else?” The teenager inquired while staring at his friend who was now sulking, realizing that his secret not-so-secret had finally come out.

“Me, disliking somebody specifically? Come on, you know I dislike everyone equally”  Nishikage brushed off the question with a nervous laughter while he shifted his look towards  Fuyuka who was still reluctant to talk, both of them weren’t comfortable with each other yet, so for now it was all  Goenji’s work to confront his friend thanks to his bad behavior of the last couple of weeks.

After the encounter of his good friend  Tobitaka with the same girl who was now questioning him,  Nishikage had completely fallen into a category of mean and complete avoidance of Nosaka, and you couldn’t blame him considering that on that same study session, while they were spying on his friend who was talking with her over the counter, Nosaka had dropped the bomb he was not expecting to hear ‘I asked Anna to be my girlfriend over the weekend’ Ah, that felt harder than any other thing on the universe, harder than realizing that you had failed a class, harder than knowing your parents abandoned you since you were little, harder than you morning boner, it was harder than anything on the universe and ever since that moment he had cut off all his friends. He started fighting random gangsters just for the sake of it, kept on telling his friends how Nosaka thought was better than them for hanging out with her instead of them, started to spread nasty rumours about every single person that had accused him for being ‘homo’ for Nosaka; he had become in a bully and a suck up, he had turned into something he hated, probably because deep down, he hated his own self.

He couldn't understand, still, why the girl that had talked to him a couple of times at school was there listening such sensitive topic, no offense but that girl was only known as his friend’s crush, not by a name, yet that person thought it was in all her right of meddling in between something so deep he haven’t even told his second close friend yet, he was mad, visibly and the second  Goenji captured that shift on his emotions he stepped out after realizing that after his words it had passed at least 5 minutes of complete silence and  palpable awkwardness.

“If it weren’t for her I wouldn’t even realize myself, I guess girls are better observants than us.”  Goenji added as he stood on by  Fuyuka’s side elbowing her carefully on her arm so that now she could expose her hypothesis and why she was so pushy towards  Goenji to confront  Nishikage before it blew out of proportions.

“You guys have gone to the same convenience store for over two years, believe me when I say that this shift on your behavior was not normal. Usually you don’t care about anyone, but lately you’ve been spreading fists and kicks to anyone that dares to see on your direction. And I became clear when you started to act more and more mad was at the same time Nosaka and Anna started dating for real. You don’t have to be a genius to realize that...it’s just...logic” She said as she could feel the other getting angry as he had become more and more often these past final weeks so she stayed a little bit behind  Goenji , he protected her right on time because right after she moved he threw towards her direction his own cell phone,  Nishikage let a loud scream leave his lungs while  visibly angry.

“And why the fuck you care? Jesus focus and something else, like stop looking so damn blunt while  Tobitaka has a massive crush on you, or probably you  Goenji could realize that you had gone ten times soft since you started dating that person who, by the way, dresses like if they were blind. Or maybe you two inspector fucking Gadgets can go and find out if  Haizaki is having an affair with Hiroto while dating Tatsuya, or you know what? You should all go and investigate why  Kazemaru out of the blue is interested on  Midorikawa’s sister. I DO NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ANY OF THIS SHIT, NOT OF YOUR WORRIES, I JUST WANT YOU ALL TO LEAVE ME ALONE, I WANT THINGS TO BE BACK TO NORMAL AND NONE OF YOU ARE GOING TO CHANGE ME WITH YOUR PUSSY ASS SHIT, I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE A POSITIVE OUTLOOK IN LIFE BECAUSE GUESS WHAT? IT’S SHIT, SHIT!” As every word he was saying he was getting closer and closer to the two of them, spitting every word with so much hatred that it was scary yet on every word he looked on the brink of breaking down, he even had raised his hand to  Goenji with a closed fist and without thinking twice he hit him and also hitting at the same time at Fuyuka, both of them took several steps back almost falling on the floor.

Goenji touched his face with a grin realizing that he was going to get a good bruise mark the next morning,  Fuyuka , who was a bit scared touched her lips realizing they were bleeding making her even more scared of  Nishikage who was now walking towards them.

Almost as if it was a response  Goenji hit back at him with the same closed fist landing on his face,  Nishikage only laughed while pretending not to be in pain, he couldn’t feel it anymore, he swung his fist but this time  Goenji curved it and with the same energy he connected another swing on his face making now the teenager laugh with even more emotion.

“Don’t you even fucking dare to come to the party this afternoon, if you do this shitshow once again I won’t back down to let your ass kicked”  Goenji said while grabbing  Fuyuka by her arm while she was trying to wipe down the blood that was still running down her lips and, almost before they were gone  Nishikage realized that him, as well as  Fuyuka , was bleeding.

“I won’t go to that stupid party, you can shove it down your asses” He said while both of them left the rooftop, he spitted back some blood that was accumulating on his mouth and he let another scream full of rage as he kicked the door with so much strength it was heard on the whole area.

What else was left now? It was his last day as a sophomore on high school and next week he was starting his senior year with virtually zero friends,  Nishikage could literally kill himself at that moment yet the only thing he could do was leaving the building. He walked pass a group of friends taking pictures of themselves holding their certificates alongside their diplomas, he could see seniors getting together for group pictures and tearful goodbyes from their homeroom teachers, he passed by his class and could hear everyone calling out for a group picture, everyone had a place where they could belong except him. No one  wanted him, not even as a friend anymore.

He popped into the infirmary just to ask for some gauzes to stop his bleeding and left in a hurry as he peeked realizing that  Goenji and  Fuyuka were two beds apart where he was. Hiding on the closest bathroom he held the gauze pressing it against his lips while staring at his face full of bruises (most of them from street fights) He had his knuckles bruised as well, he looked so miserable that  it was painful to see his condition. 

As he sighed a silver haired guy appeared getting startled by  Nishikage that he almost fell on the ground, with him his best friend entered seconds later waving at him in a cheerful manner,  Haizaki composed himself and waved at him almost completely ignoring the fact that he was bleeding.

“ Yo ,  Nishikage .  Thank God we’re free to go home now, Mr. I-Want-To-Be-Well-Dressed-With-My-Boyfriend wants us to get ready super early.” He said while rolling his eyes checking himself up on the mirror.

“Come on Ryohei, admit that you are excited as me.”  Mizukamiya chuckled while  Nishikage stared at both of them in awe, how come  these two friends who were literally an unofficial couple be so nice to each other when both of them have had different love experiences with other people? It just didn’t add up.

“You coming tonight?”

“I’m sorry, what?”  Nishikage mumbled over the fabric that was pressing against his lips.

“You coming? To the party, come on is the best party of the year”  Mizukamiya said while staring at Nishikage with a smile.

“I-I don’t have someone to take me there” He lied while he took some steps back a little surprised that his two  acquittances were friendly with him, was it even possible that people could be nice to another just because? 

“It’s fine,  Ryouhei’s mom is taking us both, of course we plan to leave by midnight and probably go drink at the back of his house” The blue haired guy confessed while laughing,  Haizaki just rolled his eyes as he was done with using the  restroom signalizing  Mizuikamiya that they were ready to leave.

Was it really a good idea to go? He had just hit his friend, he had pushed his best friend aside and he was virtually with no one to hang out with yet, this two people were whiling to spend the night with him...what was someone on his position would do?

“Fine, I’ll go”

Oh Fuck, what was going to happen now?

It was a true testament that the little boy tuxes the soccer team had to wear on a fancy party for the international Football Frontier Cup didn’t made them justice, now with full blossomed 16-year-old bodies the boys were looking ten times more handsome than those previous years. Not only was the ex  Raimon soccer team using that type of dressing etiquette, all the teenagers who one day were their rivals now were there enjoying the send-off from a school year to the other. Since it was sponsored by  Raimon Highschool it was no surprise the turnout of people was higher than expected, and as that everyone was enjoying a rather boring yet interesting party.

Nishikage was sulking on the backseat ever since he had stepped on  Haizaki’s mother car, now he was regretting to even thinking of going to a party where he was obviously not welcomed, cause, in the course of the hours  Goenji had told  Tobitaka and Nosaka what happened and, to his surprise, instead of kicking him out of their group chat he was left alone only with Nosaka on it yet he haven’t even dare to text nor anything. It was safe to say his friendship and social life was over and that made it harder for him to actually have a good mood for the party but there was no turn back, he had to face off his actions and pray for the best.

As the three of them walked down the hallways onto the school’s gym  Nishikage could feel his stomach fall down to the ground, people were staring at him and at his bruised face, he could feel that he no longer was a guy who followed Nosaka everywhere, he felt like a separate person from him and instead of feeling flattered he was rather ashamed. 

The moment of truth appeared to him once the three boys walked passing by an arch made of balloons and a bunch of teenagers were dancing in the middle of the gym, some of them were eating and some of them were talking and laughing yet, even if they were all on their own universes, every single person eventually turned their heads to him, some of them whispering and some other throwing dirty looks at him.  Mizukamiya sensing it grabbed  Nishikage by his arm towards the only table that wasn’t totally judging him, he sat with  Hiura and  Yuuichirou while  Haizaki went to Akane still sensing how other people were still staring at Nishikage and not him for once. 

The party went well for a couple of hours, people were still staring and turning their heads towards  Nishikage who was sulking more and more on his table, everything was going to go well if it weren’t for one tiny detail that triggered in him the same violence he had shown towards  Goenji . 

Nosaka have had being around with Anna on his side since the beginning of the party, and almost like if they knew he was around the couple had been all lovey  dovey , holding hands and dancing smiling towards each other,  Nishikage was mad and he couldn’t understand why, not until both of them kissed shyly in front of him, he had enough, he couldn’t believe how little his friend cared for him, how his future with him was going to waste for a girl, no, he had to tell him how he felt, probably that way something could change.

Yuuichirou who was secretly keeping an eye on him (per  Goenji ) just lost his attention on him on a second and next thing he knew  Nishikage was walking towards the dance floor and without even hesitating he grabbed Nosaka by his shoulder forcing him to turn and once he was face to face with him he let a clean punch go directly to his face making everyone scared or shocked. Nosaka didn’t took that many  seconds to respond hitting him back and in a matter of seconds the two of them were pushing and holding each other giving back and forth punches.

Almost instantly  Goenji ,  Tobitaka ,  Haizaki and  Yuuchirou appeared to  separate them yet  Nishikage stepped out of their grip while being held back by  Tobitaka and  Haizaki , he was gasping for air feeling the same rage he had felt while hitting  Goenji , the same rage while he found out Nosaka was dating someone else, the same rage when he realized that maybe he was being replaced, he was so angry yet his only left thing to do was crying while kicking the ground as hard as he could.

“WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU?” Nosaka spitted at him while trying to break free from the grip of his friends.

“NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME YOU LITTLE PUNK, I AM TIRED, TIRED OF PEOPLE NEVER LISTENING TO ME, TO WHAT I FEEL.” He spitted back while  Tobitaka made his grip stronger as he could feel  Nishikage wanting to break free from it. With slow gasps of air, he continued talking “I FUCKING LOVE YOU, BUT YOU DIDN’T EVEN GIVE ME TIME, TO PROCESS IT, TO LEAVE IT BEHIND, YOU JUST STARTED TO FEEL THINGS WITHOUT TELLING ME I WAS ABLE TO, DO YOU REALIZE HOW LEFT BEHIND I FEEL? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY FRIEND AND BE WITH ME FOREVER BUT YOU DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO GROW UP, DO YOU REALIZE YOU WERE MY FIRST FRIND AND NOW YOU DON’T EVEN CARE FOR ME?” The crowd of people around them was bigger now, everyone was staring at them, whispering nasty things, some of them encouraging the fight to start again,  Nishikage felt the pression on his chest, it was unbearable, he just cracked down while now having to be maintained on his feet by the other two teenagers that felt the shift on his weight making them a little bit worried. “I-I just needed you to tell me you weren’t leaving...” The silence after that sentence was intense, no one dared to say anything while all Nishikage could do was crying in silence, what else the world wanted from him? No parents, no friends...he was scared of his future and all he needed was answers.

“Everything will be fine...” Nosaka said breaking the silence as the same time a retro 80’s song played on the background, the disco lights were roaming around the room pointing on their faces every two seconds, slowly the red-haired guy let himself free from the grip of his friends as he slowly walked towards  Nishikage who was still with his eyes closed. “It’s just that there some things you need to understand, I am your friend, and I’ll be with you forever, I love you, in a fraternal way, you have to understand that I cherish you deeply, you’ve been with me during times I thought my mere existence was useless, you had to stand my annoying ways. But...please let me free now as I let you be free, to live our lives...” He grabbed his shoulders forcing  Nishikage to open up his eyes, both of them stared at each other while he realized the damage he had made, Nosaka had a real bruise on his left eye that was swallowing, he could feel blood again coming from his mouth making him chuckle, both of them smiled weakly and Nosaka let his arms down shifting his expression into a more serious one. “You have to understand that we love different things, that we’ll be together but living our individual lives, you have to understand that I love...her” He said while pointing at Anna who, like everyone else, had turned still while listening to their exchange of words.

Nishikage didn’t say anything at first yet he slowly started nodding while Nosaka walked pass him and to Anna to hold her hand making everyone clap spontaneously, it was a bittersweet scene but it seemed clearly that the conflict that was building up for weeks now had ended. As everyone else was going back to dance  Nishikage was leaded by  Tobitaka and  Haizaki outside the gym towards the football field,  Nishikage was still crying yet now they were happy tears, feeling relieved he had  been somehow set free and, most important, he had been forgiven for his cruel acts. The sky couldn’t be cleared and while staring at the stars he realized that a new life was beginning at that moment that was his lowest.

Almost as if it was a sort of costume,  Haizaki was lighting up a cigarette passing the box to  Tobitaka who took one and now to  Nishikage whom without even knowing how to smoke took one. Quietly they passed  Hiazaki’s lighter and with quiet coughs  Nishikage played it off his lack of experience smoking, as the three of them stared at each other while smoking, their tuxedos all messy and  Nishikage with a bunch of bruises there was nothing left to do than laughing, at first they were awkward but as the seconds passed by they became genuine. It was laughable how they had spent their dance with a fight, how now the whole school and other schools would find out that  Nishikage had been in love with Nosaka, how Nosaka had said Anna he loved her for the first time in front of 100 teenagers who didn’t even know what love meant. The sad songs from the gym were loud enough to reach the football field and it just gave a sort of comedy vibe to their actions.

“Bro, what a fucking year this one has been”  Haizaki said after a while and the other two agreed in silence, now the silver-haired boy threw himself on the steps while staring onto the sky.

“I think I’ve never been more beat up than this whole year.”  Tobitaka admitted as he threw the little end of his  cigarette and stepped on it in order for it to stop burning.

“To think that we used to say that soccer matches were the worst thing that ever happened to us, that was funny.”  Nishikage said while doing the same thing, feeling a little bit happier after realizing Tobitaka was treating him as a friend again.

They could’ve talked for hours about it yet the three of them heard some voices approaching them, it was  _ everyone, everyone that have had an important role on that year.  _ Almost like if it was a reunion for their old days,  Shirou , that had appeared to the party after months of staying at his hometown, showed two bottles of liquor that he had bought with a fake ID and almost instantly everyone got some sips of it, some other chose to smoke cigarettes from  Haizaki and some others were just running around the empty field barefoot.

While laughing at Norika falling on her butt while trying to walk down the field Nosaka approached  Nishikage patting his shoulder, he turned his face towards him while worried yet that expression erased from his face once he noticed Nosaka was looking at him as he always had, smiling and happy.

“Hey” Nosaka said while  Nishikage stood on his foot realizing the large group was staring at them in silence, almost as if they knew it was the closing page of their heated discussion they had a couple of minutes ago.

“Hey, listen I am sorry for what happened”

“Do not worry, it’s fine, it was part of my fault for not talking to you and that” Nosaka interrupted him while moving his hands trying to not start that conversation again, both of them laughed a bit nervous while not knowing exactly what to do, thank  goodness at that moment  Tobitaka and  Goenji arrived as well smiling to them feeling relieved that things finally seemed to be back to normal.

“So, are we good?”  Nishikage asked while Nosaka glanced at his two other friends who were cracking their  knuckles hitting one per side on  Nishikage’s face.

“That was for  Fuyuka ”  Tobitaka said smiling

“And that was for me”  Goenji replied laughing

“Now we’re even,  Nishikage ” Nosaka said while  smiling .

“You two are dead meat”  Nishikage said joking while the other two started running down the  stairs into the empty field while they were laughing and tripping into the sprinklers that, by fate, started spraying water making things ten times more fun.

Everyone was laughing and almost the rest started following the three of them into running into the field, getting wet and ruining their expensive clothes. Laughter and screams were present while every single person on that field was enjoying the night of their lives. Falling into the ground because of how drunk they were, screaming just for the sake of it, dancing into the field, it was truly a moment of ecstasy and joy that every single soul was enjoying and that slowly it was  disappearing into the peace of that night was offering them, Winter was over and a new Spring of their lives was starting and, unlike last year, they were no longer scared.

The future might be  unknown , we might probably get our hopes broken a hundred times, people might fail to us, they’re so many things that can go wrong, but instead on focusing on that, why don’t we focus on enjoying a time for growth and development?

As if the air got lighter, the euphoria of a new challenge took every one of them, making them realize that friendship is, and always be, what would get us  through it, and that sticking with you loved ones can make the process of growing up less painful, less awkward and probably less hard.

Never forget you experience  growing up, never forget all the people that helped you, and also, never forget to live the today as if it’s nothing besides it, tomorrow had never existed, just today, just this mere second and once we realize that we can be truly happy.

Cause this is the Time of Our Lives and nothing is going to bring you down.

Everyone, you and me are part of this  ongoing story, what would be you next move?

Next chapter is  waiting for you, think fast before your chance passes by. Get ready.

** To be continued **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THAT'S A WRAP EVERYONE. Finito, we're done with my first work in over five years!  
Did you guys enjoyed this ending episode? Any reactions or ideas of what's coming up next?  
I want to say so much yet I feel all my emotions were poured on this chapter that adding anything else wouldn't make that much sense. Anyways, I want to express my gratitude to every Kudos i've had ever since I started this work 3 months ago, I cannot tell you how happy I am to see myself growing and evolving on the person I want to become.  
I sincerely appreciate each and every one of you, for what you've done for me.
> 
> This is not the end! Youth is coming and we're about to discover in what type of situations our Go kids are about to face, will they have a better or worse life compared to their previous and superiors? That we´re about to discover.  
I'll see you guys on my next work, thank you so very much for the support. Follow me on tw @revelvelvets and tumblr @acladykay if you want to talk to me about this work or if you have any suggestions, I can't wait for the start of my next chapter.
> 
> Thank you, totally.

**Author's Note:**

> Well that a wrap for the first chapter of my series! I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been having this series on my mind for almost a year now and I am so happy I was finally able to put it into words. I hope you enjoyed it even thought it was a bit short...it's been a while since I wrote something that I actually feel ashamed. 
> 
> all chapters would center in a different member of the team, some of them would be a little longer than the others. I am not that very good at writing so this is the first time after a long period of hiatus from me so I hope you guys could give me good feedback, also, if you have any ideas that my writing gave you don't be ashamed to share. It actually makes me happy to give other people tools to develop their imaginations. Besides that I hope you enjoy this coming of age series based on the series of my childhood.


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